Name: Hail in Arkansas, December 18, 2002
Start: 2002-12-18T21:10
End: 2002-12-18T21:10
Location: Arkansas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 Dec 18, 3:50 PM CST, 5 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 18, 3:50 PM CST, 5 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
350 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002

IN THE MIDST OF THE EVENT. LIKELY THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT...WITH SOME
POSSIBLY SEVERE WITH POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TORNADOES. TORNADO WATCH
IN EFFECT AREA WIDE. UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TAPPING THE INCREASING
GULF MOISTURE WILL PRODUCE BANDS OF THUNDERSTORMS...AND WILL
CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. OVERALL AREA WILL SHIFT EASTWARD WITH THE
DISTURBANCE AND SURFACE FRONT OVERNIGHT. MAY STILL HAVE LINGERING
SEVERE WEATHER AROUND SUNRISE THURSDAY MORNING FOR CENTRAL
LOUISIANA. ONCE WE GET RID OF THIS...FAIR WEATHER THROUGH THE
WEEKEND. RAIN RETURNS AS ANOTHER UPPER LOW DIGS IN TO SW STATES ON
MONDAY AND WILL CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY. WILL GO WITH LIKELY POPS. MEX
GUIDANCE HAS SOME FREEZING MIN TEMPS IN THE MIDST OF THIS NEXT RAIN
EVENT...BUT WILL NOT GO THAT COLD. 17

PRELIMS...

SHV 57/71/39/63/35 7300
MLU 62/70/39/63/32 7600
TXK 53/70/37/62/34 7100
TYR 51/70/38/63/39 6000
LFK 57/71/39/66/40 7200

.SHV...TORNADO WATCH FOR ALL ZONES THROUGH 9 PM...

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 18, 12:00 PM CST, 9 hours 10 minutes before

ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096-
097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-191200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
1200 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...NORTHEAST
TEXAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...

THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ENTIRE
FOUR STATES REGION FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT.

WARM AND HUMID GULF AIR ACROSS THE REGION...AND A VIGOROUS STORM
SYSTEM SWINGING ACROSS TEXAS TODAY...WILL PROVIDE THE NECESSARY
INGREDIENTS TO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER TODAY AND TONIGHT. INSTABILITY
PARAMETERS AND VERTICAL WIND PROFILES SUGGEST NOT ONLY THE
POSSIBILITY OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...BUT ALSO THE
POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES. STORMS WILL INITIATE OVER NORTHEAST
TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS THIS
AFTERNOON...THEN MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS LOUISIANA...EAST TEXAS...AND
SOUTHCENTRAL ARKANSAS OVERNIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...
SEVERE STORMS MAY STILL BE IN PROGRESS OVER THE EASTERN SECTIONS OF
NORTH LOUISIANA AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS EARLY THURSDAY. OTHERWISE...
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...
ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...SKYWARN NETWORKS...AND STORM
SPOTTERS WILL BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 18, 8:42 PM CST, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT, LA
842 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0430 PM    LARAN                     LA   TORNADO
12/18/02   UNION                          POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGED
                                          SEVERAL HOMES...AND
                                          DOWN TREES AND POWER
                                          LINES. REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0440 PM    3 N FARMERVILLE           LA   TORNADO
12/18/02   UNION                          POSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGED
                                          TREES JUST NORTH OF
                                          FARMERVILLE. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT

0510 PM    NASHVILLE                 AR   .75 INCH HAIL
12/18/02   HOWARD                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0515 PM    PLAIN DEALING             LA   1.00 INCH HAIL
12/18/02   BOSSIER                        REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

0645 PM    GILLIAM                   LA   WIND DAMAGE
12/18/02   CADDO                          POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN.
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

0716 PM    DIXIE                     LA   WIND DAMAGE
12/18/02   CADDO                          POWER LINES DOWN AND
                                          DAMAGE TO TRAILER HOMES.
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

0801 PM    SPRINGHILL                LA   .88 INCH HAIL
12/18/02   WEBSTER                        REPORTED BY SPOTTERS

03

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:08 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Columbia

When: December 18, 9:10 PM CST
Where: Columbia County, Emerson
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 33.100, -93.183

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arkansas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, December 2002

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: 5321597.