Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 177

April 28, 202656 counties in Arkansas; 9 parishes in Louisiana; 21 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 28, 2026, 5:45 PM CDT for 56 counties in Arkansas; 9 parishes in Louisiana; 21 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 28, 2026, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 29, 2026, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 86 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Baxter County, AR, Boone County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleburne County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Conway County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Faulkner County, AR, Fulton County, AR, Garland County, AR, Grant County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Hot Spring County, AR, Howard County, AR, Independence County, AR, Izard County, AR, Jackson County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Johnson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lawrence County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Little River County, AR, Logan County, AR, Lonoke County, AR, Marion County, AR, Miller County, AR, Monroe County, AR, Montgomery County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Newton County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Perry County, AR, Pike County, AR, Polk County, AR, Pope County, AR, Prairie County, AR, Pulaski County, AR, Randolph County, AR, Saline County, AR, Scott County, AR, Searcy County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Sharp County, AR, Stone County, AR, Union County, AR, Van Buren County, AR, White County, AR, Woodruff County, AR, Yell County, AR, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Cherokee County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Marion County, TX, Morris County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Panola County, TX, Red River County, TX, Rusk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, Shelby County, TX, Smith County, TX, Titus County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:48 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

30 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 5:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	27 min
Apr 28, 6:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Howard, Sevier	42 min
Apr 28, 6:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	4 min
Apr 28, 6:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Little River, Sevier	43 min
Apr 28, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Johnson, Newton, Pope, Searcy	38 min
Apr 28, 6:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Howard, Sevier	28 min
Apr 28, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Scott, Yell	14 min
Apr 28, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Howard, Sevier	48 min
Apr 28, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Pope, Van Buren	39 min
Apr 28, 7:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Garland, Montgomery, Perry, Yell	25 min
Apr 28, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Garland, Montgomery, Perry, Yell	12 min
Apr 28, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Nevada	48 min
Apr 28, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Independence, Jackson, Van Buren and 1 more	51 min
Apr 28, 7:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Clark, Dallas, Ouachita, Pike	39 min
Apr 28, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Monroe	15 min
Apr 28, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Bradley, Calhoun, Drew	44 min
Apr 28, 8:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Calhoun, Clark, Dallas, Ouachita	40 min
Apr 28, 8:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, White, Woodruff	53 min
Apr 28, 8:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Bradley, Drew	38 min
Apr 28, 8:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Bradley	14 min
Apr 28, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, Dallas, Ouachita	46 min
Apr 28, 8:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LZK	Bradley, Calhoun, Cleveland, Drew	41 min
Apr 28, 9:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LZK	Drew	40 min
Apr 28, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Desha, Drew	31 min
Apr 28, 11:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Jefferson	45 min
Apr 28, 11:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleveland, Dallas, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln	25 min
Apr 28, 11:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleveland, Dallas, Lincoln	50 min
Apr 28, 11:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Jefferson, Monroe	22 min
Apr 28, 11:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Desha, Jefferson, Lincoln	24 min
Apr 28, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Desha, Drew, Lincoln	16 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 290 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1333 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 27, 7:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton and 17 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 8:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Fulton, Randolph	2 hr
Apr 27, 8:23 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton and 28 more	6 hr
Apr 27, 9:48 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee and 4 more	7 hr
Apr 27, 10:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cleburne, Craighead, Greene, Independence, Jackson and 8 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 10:46 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, Stone	59 min
Apr 28, 1:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Crittenden, Cross, Jackson, Mississippi, Poinsett, Woodruff	2 hr
Apr 28, 9:33 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Cleveland, Columbia, Dallas and 20 more	117 min
Apr 28, 10:01 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Fulton and 7 more	119 min
Apr 28, 10:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Fulton and 13 more	9 hr
Apr 28, 10:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 40 more	8 hr
Apr 28, 1:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Cleburne, Fulton and 11 more	2 hr
Apr 28, 1:40 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Ashley, Chicot	65 min
Apr 28, 1:54 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Ashley, Chicot	8 hr
Apr 28, 2:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Mississippi, Phillips and 2 more	57 min
Apr 28, 2:32 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Greene, Lee and 4 more	7 hr
Apr 28, 3:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arkansas, Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Chicot, Clark and 37 more	117 min
Apr 28, 4:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Fulton and 8 more	87 min
Apr 28, 5:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay	94 min
Apr 28, 5:52 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baxter, Boone, Clark, Conway, Franklin, Garland and 20 more	113 min
Apr 27, 8:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Camp, Collin, Dallas, Delta, Franklin, Hopkins and 10 more	115 min
Apr 28, 4:49 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Cottle, Dickens and 10 more	3 hr
Apr 28, 5:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Cottle, Dickens and 16 more	6 hr
Apr 28, 7:46 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Grayson, Wichita, Wilbarger	119 min
Apr 28, 12:07 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Denton and 10 more	113 min
Apr 28, 1:09 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Archer, Bosque, Callahan, Clay, Collin, Cooke and 30 more	9 hr
Apr 28, 2:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Denton, Fannin and 10 more	94 min
Apr 28, 4:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Collin, Dallas, Denton, Hood, Palo Pinto, Parker and 2 more	85 min
Apr 28, 6:44 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Val Verde	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Texas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2026 Every tornado watch in 2026

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.