1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 18, 3:15 PM CST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 315 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY)... IN THE SHORT TERM...WILL DEAL WITH THE ONGOING WEATHER SITUATION. RIGHT NOW...HEAVIEST ACTIVITY HAS FORMED IN A LINE FROM ROUGHLY POF-HOT-TXK. THIS WILL CONTINUE EASTWARD THIS EVENING. VERY GOOD WARM ADVECTION AND SOME BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS...ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHERN ARKANSAS...HAVE ALLOWED SUFFICIENT DESTABILIZATION TO TAKE PLACE. STRONG SPEED AND DIRECTIONAL SHEAR HAS ENHANCED THE TORNADIC THREAT. THIS ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE WELL INTO THE EVENING...WITH THE BEST SEVERE POTENTIAL AND HIGHEST POPS OVER EASTERN ARKANSAS. COLD FRONT WILL MOVE EAST LATER TONIGHT AND WILL ACT TO PUSH MUCH OF THE ACTIVITY OUT OF THE FORECAST AREA. SOME LIGHT RAIN WILL LINGER IN THE MORNING...BUT ALL SHOULD BE GONE BY MID DAY AS THE DRY SLOT AND THE COLD FRONT FORCES REMAINING CONVECTIVE PRECIP EASTWARD. CLOUDS SHOULD CLEAR OUT LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. FRIDAY WILL BE MOSTLY CLEAR AS HIGH PRESSURE BRIEFLY SETTLES IN. WEAK COLD FRONT WILL AFFECT ARKANSAS SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY NIGHT. NOT MUCH MOISTURE AVAILABLE...AND BEST DYNAMICS ARE NORTHWARD INTO MISSOURI ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE LOW. WILL THUS CONTINUE ONLY SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS FOR SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. FWC GUIDANCE FITS IN WELL AT MOST LOCATIONS. HAVE STAYED CLOSE TO IT...WITH A FEW TWEAKS HERE AND THERE. .EXTENDED FORECAST (SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY).... WEAK FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO EASE OUT OF THE STATE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. ANY LINGERING SHOWERS SHOULD END AROUND OR AFTER MIDNIGHT. POSSIBLE INTERESTING SCENARIO SHAPING UP FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY. EXTENDED RANGE MODELS SHOW LOW PRESSURE FORMING OVER OLD MEXICO AND THE BIG BEND AREA OF WEST TEXAS ON MONDAY. WITH LARGE HIGH PRESSURE TO THE NORTHEAST AND A FRONT COMING DOWN OUT OF THE HIGH PLAINS...THE SYSTEM WILL BE HARD PRESSED TO MAKE ANY HEADWAY NORTHEASTWARD. MORE LIKELY...THE LOW WOULD TRACK ALONG THE GULF COAST. IN OTHER WORDS...WE MAY HAVE AN OVERRUNNING TYPE SCENARIO SETTING UP OVER US. PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS SHOW THE THICKNESS VALUES CLOSE TO NORTHERN ARKANSAS SUPPORTING SNOW. FORECAST SOUNDINGS THAT FAR OUT INDICATE ONLY A SHALLOW MELTING LAYER. KEEPING IN MIND SOLUTIONS DO USUALLY CHANGE IN SUCCESSIVE MODEL RUNS...WILL HOLD OFF ON THE MENTION OF ANY WINTER WEATHER UNTIL THE PICTURE BECOMES A LITTLE CLEARER. THE COLD FRONT TO THE NORTH AND HIGH PRESSURE TO THE SOUTHWEST OF THE SYSTEM WILL ACT TO PUSH IT OUT OF THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY. OVER ALL...TENDED TO TREND TEMPERATURES DOWNWARD IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD. FCSTID = 57 HRO 42 57 31 49 / 60 20 10 0 LIT 48 62 35 55 / 70 30 10 0 HOT 47 61 34 55 / 70 30 10 0 PBF 50 64 37 56 / 80 40 10 0 .LZK...NONE.
ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-191100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 120 PM CST WED DEC 18 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS MOST OF WEST-CENTRAL...CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ELSEWHERE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THE OVERALL SEVERE WEATHER THREAT IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS...AND WILL BE MAXIMIZED DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS AREAS ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 40. AN UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL CONTINUE TO APPROACH ARKANSAS FROM THE SOUTHWEST. THIS WILL RESULT IN ADDITIONAL STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT OVER CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP AHEAD OF THE LINE...AND ANY SUCH STORMS COULD PRODUCE TORNADOES AS WELL AS LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE QUICKLY NORTHEAST ACROSS EASTERN ARKANSAS DURING THE EVENING AND SHOULD BE OUT OF THE STATE AROUND MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER. A CHANCE OF RAIN AND WEAKER THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY IN MOST OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS EVENING. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION...INCLUDING WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS...VISIT THE LITTLE ROCK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SRH.WEATHER.GOV/LZK 44
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:12 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak tornado (F0) touched down 2.7 miles west-southwest of Bearden and tracked to the northeast for 5.1 miles before lifting. The only damage noted along the path of the tornado were some trees that were snapped off and minor damage to the tin roof of a barn.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arkansas, 2002Warnings in Arkansas, December 2002
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: 5324638.