A warm front advancing from Louisiana into Arkansas triggered thunderstorms in central and southern Arkansas on the afternoon and evening of the 22nd.
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 episode as NWS LZK wrote it up.
A warm front advancing from Louisiana into Arkansas triggered thunderstorms in central and southern Arkansas on the afternoon and evening of the 22nd.
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 May 22, 11:19 AM CST, 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1219 PM CDT THU MAY 22 2008 .AVIATION... WARM FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO DRIFT SLOWLY NORTHWARD TONIGHT. STRATOCU WILL LAST IN MOST AREAS UNTIL AROUND SUNSET...BUT WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE NORTH. ISOLATED CONVECTION POSSIBLE TONIGHT ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTH...BUT CHANCES TOO SMALL TO INCLUDE ANY TEMPO GROUPS ATTM. MOSTLY VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED...WITH POSSIBLE TEMPO MVFR CIGS 09-13Z IN THE NORTH AHEAD OF THE WARM FRONT. TAFS OUT SHORTLY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1032 AM CDT THU MAY 22 2008/ UPDATE... CURRENT FORECAST ON TRACK. WARM FRONT WAS CURRENTLY LOCATED ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE FORECAST AREA THROUGH THE DAY. WILL UPDATE TO REMOVE MORNING WORDING. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && AVIATION...57
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 500 AM CDT THU MAY 22 2008 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-231000- 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 AM CDT THU MAY 22 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 44
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:00 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck the Arkansas Sky Observatory on Petit Jean Mountain. All the electronics in two telescopes were destroyed, as were some cameras, computers, and other electronic equipment.
Trees were down four miles west of Daisy.
Trees were down across the area.
A tree was down on a roadway.
A tree was down in the area.
Power lines were down.
Power lines were down.
Trees were down in the area.
A 17 year-old male was stuck and killed by lightning while standing under a large pine tree in the 1800 block of South Jackson Street (about 3 miles west-southwest of downtown Little Rock). Males 13 and 14 years old were injured. The lightning strike occurred just as the storm was moving into the area. Lightning detection equipment showed very few cloud-to-ground strikes with this particular storm.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Pulaski | 2008-05-22 | 17 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2008
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: 108323, 99149, 99145, 99150, 99151, 99146, 99147, 99148, 99152, 99154, 99155, 99156, 92771.