Arkansas, 2003

Hail in Arkansas, December 22, 2003

December 22, 2003 · NWS LZK · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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 Dec 22, 4:00 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 22, 4:00 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
400 PM CST MON DEC 22 2003

SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING EAST OUT OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS.
LOW PRESSURE CENTERED IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA...WITH COLD FRONT
EXTENDED INTO CENTRAL TEXAS. WHILE CLOUDS WERE OVER THE STATE FOR
MUCH OF THE DAY...BREAKS WERE SEEN OVER WESTERN SECTIONS.
INSTABILITY IS THE LIMITING FACTOR FOR SEVERE POTENTIAL
TONIGHT...BUT WITH BREAKS IN CLOUDS...CAP WILL GRADUALLY ERODE AWAY.
AS SUCH...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS VALID UNTIL 9 PM FOR
EXTREME WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE AREA.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE EAST AS THE COLD FRONT
PROGRESSES ACROSS THE STATE. POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL
EVENT...ESPECIALLY IN NORTHERN ARKANSAS. AFTER THE FRONTAL
PASSAGE...NORTHWEST PORTIONS WILL SEE A DRASTIC COOL DOWN.

HAVE TAPERED POPS TUESDAY FROM WEST TO EAST...AS FRONT WILL BE CLOSE
TO THE EASTERN EDGE OF AREA BY SUNRISE. UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL MOVE
THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING...AND WENT WITH CHANCE POPS. HAVE ENDED
RAINFALL BY AFTERNOON HOURS TUESDAY...WITH CLOUDS DECREASING RAPIDLY.

HIGH PRESSURE AND CLEAR CONDITIONS WILL MOVE IN FOR WEDNESDAY
THROUGH SATURDAY. LOOKS LIKE CHRISTMAS DAY WILL BE VERY PLEASANT
WITH HIGHS IN 50S.

THE NEXT COLD FRONT AND CHANCE OF RAIN COMES SATURDAY NIGHT AND
EARLY SUNDAY. MOST OF THE ENERGY WILL BE TO THE NORTH...SO ONLY LOW
CHANCE POPS WARRANTED.

HRO   37  45  26  46 / 100  40   5   0
LIT   47  51  29  50 /  80  60  10   0
HOT   45  50  30  51 /  80  40  10   0
PBF   49  53  30  52 /  80  70  10   0
&&

.LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

58
Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 22, 5:00 PM CST, 3 hours 50 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
500 PM CST MON DEC 22 2003

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-231100-
ARKANSAS-BAXTER-BOONE-BRADLEY-CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND-
CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW-FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING-
INDEPENDENCE-IZARD-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-
LONOKE-MARION-MONROE-MONTGOMERY-NEWTON-OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-
POLK-POPE-PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SEARCY-SHARP-STONE-
VAN BUREN-WHITE-WOODRUFF-YELL-
500 PM CST MON DEC 22 2003

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

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL CONTINUE TO ADVANCE TOWARD
THE REGION OVERNIGHT. THE SURFACE REFLECTION OF THIS SYSTEM AND ITS
ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT IS NOW ALONG THE RED RIVER AND WILL ALSO
ADVANCE TOWARD AND EVENTUALLY THROUGH ARKANSAS BY EARLY TUESDAY.

MOISTURE LEVELS WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE WITH RAIN CHANCES ALSO
INCREASING STATEWIDE LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. RAIN WILL BECOME
LIKELY OVERNIGHT AS THE SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH. SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...AS A COLD FRONT
SWEEPS ACROSS ARKANSAS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY REACH SEVERE
LEVELS...ESPECIALLY OVER WESTERN ARKANSAS THIS EVENING. LARGE HAIL
WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM FOR
THE WESTERN QUARTER OF THE STATE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL SHIFT EAST OF
ARKANSAS ON TUESDAY. RAIN AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER BEHIND
THE FRONT TUESDAY MORNING. RAIN CHANCES WILL DIMINISH FROM THE WEST
TUESDAY AFTERNOON AS DRIER AIR BUILDS IN ON NORTHWEST WINDS.

THE NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN WILL BE OVER THE WEEKEND AS ANOTHER STORM
SYSTEM APPROACHES ARKANSAS FROM THE PLAINS STATES.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING.

56

In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 22, 8:38 PM CST, 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
838 PM CST MON DEC 22 2003

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0823 PM     HAIL             ATKINS                  35.24N 92.95W
12/22/2003  1.75 INCH        POPE               AR   AMATEUR RADIO

            GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED ALONG I-40 IN ATKINS

&&

56

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:49 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Scott

When
December 22, 8:50 PM CST
Where
Scott County, 1 mi E of Cauthron
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
34.917, -94.283

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 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, December 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: 5327849.