Flash Flood, Union
- When
- May 31, 6:15 AM CST
- Where
- Union County, Smackover
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 33.171, -92.597 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Numerous roads flooded and impassable.
Flash Flood in Arkansas, May 31, 2001
1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 2:00 AM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:00 AM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 300 AM CDT THU MAY 31 2001 ON GOING SEVERE WEATHER THREAT THIS MORNING AS THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONTINUING OVER SOUTHERN ARKANSAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND EXTREME NORTHEAST TEXAS WHERE A WARM FRONT IS LOCATED. FORECAST PROBLEMS THIS MORNING ARE MOVEMENT OF COLD FRONT AND AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION AND THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AS FRONT MOVES ACROSS FORECAST AREA TODAY INTO FRIDAY MORNING. LOW PRESSURE NEAR KANSAS CITY WILL SHIFT NORTHEAST INTO ILLINOIS BY FRIDAY MORNING WITH AN UPPER LEVEL LOW MOVING INTO THE GREAT LAKES. THE UPPER LOW WILL MOVE NORTHEAST AS A MID LEVEL RIDGE MOVES INTO THE ROCKIES. THE WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NORTH INTO THE OHIO VALLEY BUT STORMS SHOULD REDEVELOP OR STRENGTHEN LATER TODAY ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AND ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES FROM STORMS THIS MORNING. SFC ANALYSIS REVEALS COMPLEX PATTERN ACROSS SOUTH ARKANSAS...NORTH TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA WITH OUTFLOW BOUNDARY/WARM FRONT INTERSECTING WEAK COLD FRONT DEVELOPING SOUTH ACROSS THE RED RIVER VALLEY. 20-30 KT SOUTHERLY LOW LEVEL WINDS ARE CAUSING ENOUGH CONVERGENCE UPON THE BOUNDARIES AND PROVIDING SUFFICIENT LIFT FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WHERE CAPE VALUES ARE AROUND 3000 J/KG. WITH WEAK MID LEVEL WINDS THE STORMS ARE RATHER SLOW MOVING. EXCESSIVE CONVECTIVE RAINFALL MAY POSE A FLOODING THREAT...BUT HEAVIEST RAINFALL SHOULD SHIFT EAST AND DECREASE BY LATE MORNING. WILL KEEP HEAVY RAINFALL IN WORDING AND RISK OF SEVERE IN ZONES. ETA INDICATES WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE OVER AREA FRIDAY WITH AT WORST PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. AVN INDICATING A SECOND FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA SATURDAY WITH A SHORT WAVE FRIDAY NIGHT PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL OVERNIGHT BUT ETA AND NGM SHOWING MAIN SHORT WAVE UP NORTH WITH ONLY CHANCE PRECIPITATION...MAINLY SOUTHERN ARKANSAS AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA. WILL LEAVE FRIDAY NIGHT FORECAST THE SAME. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE...09 SHV 85/65/87/64 5212 MLU 84/66/86/67 6311 TXK 82/63/85/63 7213 TYR 84/63/87/68 6213 LFK 87/67/89/69 5312 .SHV.O..NONE.
The radar
The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:15 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes in Tennessee, May 31, 2001
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 31, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, May 31, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, May 31, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, May 31, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 31, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Mississippi, May 31, 2001
- Tornado in Illinois, May 31, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, May 31, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Nebraska, May 31, 2001
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Kentucky, May 31, 2001
- Tornado and Hail in Kansas, May 31, 2001
More
Every storm in Arkansas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5242022.