Name: Damaging Wind in Arkansas, July 18, 2002
Start: 2002-07-18T15:45
End: 2002-07-18T15:45
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 Little Rock, AR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 18, 2:41 PM CST, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 2:41 PM CST, 1 hour 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
341 PM CDT THU JUL 18 2002

MAIN CONCERN IS PRECIPITATION CHANCES.

AFTER A RAIN FILLED MORNING...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE
REDEVELOPED. A LARGE COMPLEX OF STORMS LOCATED FROM SOUTHERN
MISSOURI TO NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LEVEL
TROUGH...IS MOVING INTO NORTH ARKANSAS.

THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL SLOWLY MOVE SOUTHEAST THROUGH SATURDAY.
THIS WILL BRING THE BEST CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE
NORTHEAST PORTION OF THE CWFA. MODELS ARE IN SIMILAR AGREEMENT WITH
THE AVN SHOWING HIGHER MOISTURE VALUES. I WILL TEND TOWARD THE DRIER
ETA MODEL. THE MOISTURE WILL MOVE OFF TO THE EAST SATURDAY NIGHT
INTO SUNDAY. SUNDAY AND MONDAY LOOK TO BE DRIER AS HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS IN OVER THE AREA. ANOTHER TROUGH WILL MOVE IN ON NORTHWEST
FLOW ON TUESDAY AND BRING ADDITIONAL MOISTURE AND A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THIS CHANCE WILL LAST INTO WEDNESDAY AND
THURSDAY WITH SEVERAL SHORT WAVES MOVING THROUGH THE AREA.

TEMPERATURES WILL BE SLOW TO WARM UP WITH ALL THE MOISTURE IN THE
GROUND AND IN THE AIR. SOME DRYING (THIS WEEKEND) WILL BE NEEDED
BEFORE HIGH TEMPERATURES CAN GET INTO THE UPPER 90S. IN THE SHORT
TERM HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE CLOSER TO THE MAV TEMPERATURES.

.LZK...NONE.

51

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 18, 2:53 PM CST, 52 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
353 PM CDT THU JUL 18 2002

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

0340 PM    3 N LEAD HILL             AR   60 MPH TSTM GUST
07/18/02   BOONE                          LARGE LIMBS DOWN AND
                                          HEAVY RAIN AT DIAMOND
                                          CITY. REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

28

Local storm report, Jul 18, 3:23 PM CST, 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
423 PM CDT THU JUL 18 2002

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

0400 PM    2 NNE GASSVILLE           AR   WIND DAMAGE
07/18/02   BAXTER                         TREE DOWN AT
                                          WHITEVILLE. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

28

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:47 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Searcy

When: July 18, 3:45 PM CST
Where: Searcy County, Marshall
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.900, -92.633

Thunderstorm winds blew down some large tree limbs.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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, July 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: 5311439.