Name: Damaging Wind in Arkansas, August 23, 2003
Start: 2003-08-23T00:10
End: 2003-08-23T00:10
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 happened

The episode as NWS LZK wrote it up.

Thunderstorm winds blew the roof off a barn near Swifton.

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 Aug 22, 9:05 PM CST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 9:05 PM CST, 3 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1005 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 2003

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MOVING OUT OF SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI INTO EXTREME
NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS AT 0300Z. QUICK UPDATE TO INCLUDE SMALL POPS
FOR OVERNIGHT FOR EXTREME NORTHERN PARTS OF CWA.

.LZK...NONE.

22

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 22, 5:05 PM CST, 7 hours 5 minutes before

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-231000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
605 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT THIS
EVENING. THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR A COUPLE OF THE STORMS TO BE
STRONG WITH GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

A COLD FRONT MAY REACH THE STATE WEDNESDAY...BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE
OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AT THAT TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.

28

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 23, 12:00 AM CST, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK, AR
100 AM CDT SAT AUG 23 2003

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

1240 AM    3 SW SWIFTON              AR   WIND DAMAGE
08/23/03   JACKSON                        HIGHWAY SIGNS BLOWN DOWN
                                          ON U.S. HWY 67. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT

1240 AM    SWIFTON                   AR   WIND DAMAGE
08/23/03   JACKSON                        TREES DOWN ACROSS TOWN.
                                          POWER LINES DOWN. POLICE
                                          RADIO SYSTEM KNOCKED OUT.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT

1243 AM    2 W TUCKERMAN             AR   WIND DAMAGE
08/23/03   JACKSON                        TREE DOWN ACROSS STATE HWY
                                          37. REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

22

Local storm report, Aug 23, 12:07 AM CST, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK, AR
107 AM CDT SAT AUG 23 2003

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

0103 AM    NEWPORT                   AR   .75 INCH HAIL
08/23/03   JACKSON                        REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

22

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Jackson

When: August 23, 12:10 AM CST
Where: Jackson County, Swifton
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 35.817, -91.133

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 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, August 2003

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: 5333379.