Name: Flooding in Arkansas, January 13, 2005
Start: 2005-01-13T08:00
End: 2005-01-13T23:00
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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 TSA wrote it up.

The Arkansas River near Van Buren rose above its flood stage of 22 feet at 8 am cst. The river crested at 22.60 feet at 5 pm that same day. The river fell below its flood stage at 11 pm cst that evening.

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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 13, 3:30 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 13, 3:30 AM CST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA
330 AM CST THU JAN 13 2005

COLD FRONT CURRENTLY PUSHING THROUGH FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA WITH
CLEARING LINE OF LOW CLOUD DECK NEARING PAWNEE/OSAGE COUNTIES. LOW
CLOUDS SHOULD SCATTER OUT FROM WEST TO EAST BY EARLY AFTERNOON WITH
ONLY A FEW HIGH CLOUDS REMAINING. WITH AIRMASS BEHIND COLD FRONT
ONLY IN THE LOWER 30S SHOULD SEE A REBOUND IN TEMPERATURES INTO THE
40S MOST AREAS THIS AFTERNOON.

MODELS DIVERGE SIGNIFICANTLY ON MOVEMENT OF ARCTIC AIRMASS AND WITH
COLD FRONT CURRENTLY PUSHING INTO NORTHERN NEBRASKA. ETA MOVES FRONT
INTO SOUTHERN KANSAS THEN BECOMES STATIONARY JUST NORTH OF FA ON
FRIDAY. BELIEVE GFS HAS A LOT BETTER HANDLE ON SITUATION...PUSHING
FRONT THROUGH THE AREA EARLY FRIDAY AND THEREFORE STAYED CLOSER TO
THE MUCH COLDER MAV TEMPS FOR HIGHS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED AT THIS TIME.  NORTHWEST FLOW
ALOFT WILL KEEPS TEMPERATURES BELOW NORMAL WITH SEVERAL SURGES OF
REINFORCING COLD AIR.

PRELIM NUMBERS:

TUL    44   20   34   22 /  10    5    5    5
FSM    46   25   41   25 /  10    5    5    5
MLC    46   23   44   26 /  10    5    5    5
BVO    42   17   32   20 /  10    5    5    5
FYV    40   20   37   22 /  10    5    5    5
BYV    39   20   36   22 /  10    5    5    5
MKO    44   22   37   23 /  10    5    5    5
MIO    41   18   32   21 /  10    5    5    5
F10    45   21   37   24 /  10    5    5    5
HHW    50   26   46   30 /  10    5    5    5

FORECAST ID= 12

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 13, 4:40 AM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
440 AM CST THU JAN 13 2005

ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-141100-
ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK-
CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK-
LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK-
OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK-
PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK-
WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR-
440 AM CST THU JAN 13 2005

THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS
MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

MAINSTEM RIVER FLOODING.
        AREA...ILLINOIS RIVER AT WATTS AND TAHLEQUAH.
        ONSET...ONGOING.

DISCUSSION...
A COLD FRONT HAS TRAVERSED THE REGION OVERNIGHT...WITH THUNDERSTORMS
MOVING EAST OF THE AREA. LOW CLOUDS WILL SCATTER BY EARLY AFTERNOON
AS TEMPERATURES REBOUND INTO THE 40S.

MAINSTEM RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER NEAR
WATTS AND NEAR TAHLEQUAH. REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD STATEMENT
/OKCFLSTSA/ FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
FRIDAY...NO HAZARDS.
SATURDAY...NO HAZARDS.
SUNDAY...NO HAZARDS.
MONDAY...NO HAZARDS.
TUESDAY...NO HAZARDS.
WEDNESDAY...NO HAZARDS.

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...
NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE
NEXT 5 OR 6 DAYS. PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL REMAIN VERY LOW.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING STATEMENT...

WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL INFORMATION

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Crawford

When: January 13, 8:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST
Where: Crawford forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 34.383, -93.183

Flood, Sebastian

When: January 13, 8:00 AM CST to 11:00 PM CST
Where: Sebastian forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.317, -92.717

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Arkansas in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, January 2005

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: 5438502, 5438503.