An upper level ridge which was located across the central and southern plains over the last couple of weeks and resulted in triple digit temperatures across much of the region finally moved west into the inter-mountain west. As a result, southwest Arkansas and northeast Louisiana was put in a more favorable storm pattern being east of the upper level ridge axis.
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 SHV wrote it up.
An upper level ridge which was located across the central and southern plains over the last couple of weeks and resulted in triple digit temperatures across much of the region finally moved west into the inter-mountain west. As a result, southwest Arkansas and northeast Louisiana was put in a more favorable storm pattern being east of the upper level ridge axis. Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across the southern plains during the overnight hours of August 10th and moved southeast into southwest Arkansas and north central and northeast Louisiana during the morning hours of August 11th. Widespread flooding was reported across much of the region. During the afternoon with heating of the day, strong to severe thunderstorms developed across portions of north central and northeast Louisiana. These storms produced strong and damaging wind gusts which downed trees and power lines in a few locations.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 1:55 AM CST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 255 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 .DISCUSSION... WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS ELONGATED UPPER RIDGE CENTERED OVER BAJA/SONORA...ALLOWING FOR NW FLOW ALOFT FM THE TEXAS PANHANDLE THRU THE FOUR-STATE AREA. A LARGE...DECAYING MCS WAS NOTED OVER KLBB AND VICINITY...WHILE CLOSER TO HOME...ANOTHER WAS DEVELOPING OVER SE OK TO BRING IN THE NEXT SHOT OF RAIN. 24-HR MPE ESTIMATES NOTE THAT THE BULK OF HEAVIEST PRECIP FELL JUST NE OF THE CWA IN AR...ALSO REFLECTED IN THE LATEST FFG. THUS...WE/LL AGAIN HOLD OFF ON ISSUING A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR NOW. REPEATED MCS DEVELOPMENT HAS MADE THE GFS SOMEWHAT NOISY...BUT LATEST RUN HINTS AT A SECOND ONE DEVELOPING AGAIN TONIGHT AND FOLLOWING THE FIRST...SO DAY SHIFT WILL NEED TO RE-ASSESS THE POTENTIAL FOR A WATCH THEN. STILL...00Z KSHV RAOB SHOWED AMS WELL ON ITS WAY TO SATURATION...AND FCST SOUNDINGS SHOW PWATS MAXING OUT AT AROUND 2.7IN IN NW LA LATE TONIGHT...SO WE/LL CONTINUE MENTIONING HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE GRIDS THRU TUESDAY MORNING WHEN SECOND PROGGED MCS EXITS. OTHERWISE...WEDNESDAY STILL LOOKS DRY...SAME FOR MAYBE SOME LINGERING ACTIVITY TO THE SOUTH ON RESIDUAL BOUNDARIES. THURSDAY...LARGE TROUGH BEGINS DIGGING INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...W/SUBTLE SHORTWAVES PRECEDING IT...AND PUSHES A FRONT THRU THE AREA LATE FRIDAY/EARLY SATURDAY. FCST SOUNDINGS/SHEAR PROGS ALONG THE FRONT SUGGEST FRIDAY NIGHT COULD SEE A FEW SEVERE STORMS...BUT THAT CAN BE FURTHER ASSESSED AS THE WEEK PROGRESSES. OTHERWISE...TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY AGAIN TODAY...BUT THE LOWER SIDE OF GUIDANCE LOOKS REASONABLE THRU WEDNESDAY...W/MAYBE A BRIEF WARMUP THURSDAY BEFORE INCOMING TROUGH/FRONT TAKES TEMPS BACK BELOW NORMAL FOR FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND. && .AVIATION... NW FLOW ALOFT ALLOWING CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS TO ROLL INTO AREA. SFC FRONTAL BOUNDARY OVER AREA NEAR I 20. S WINDS S OF FRONT...E WINDS N OF FRONT. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 12/06Z. EXPECT MVFR CONDITIONS WITH MORNING PRECIP...PROBABLY VFR DURING MIDDAY THROUGH EVENING PRECIP. ALSO THIS MORNING WILL SEE PATCHY IFR CIGS. PRECIP AREA ATTM MAINLY N OF A LINE FROM CLARKSVILLE TX TO SHV TO AEX. THIS PRECIP AREA WILL GRADUALLY PUSH SOUTHWARD THROUGH THE DAY. /17/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 83 73 86 71 90 / 100 60 80 0 10 MLU 80 71 82 69 91 / 100 60 90 30 10 DEQ 80 70 88 65 90 / 100 60 40 0 0 TXK 80 71 87 69 90 / 100 70 60 0 0 ELD 78 70 84 65 87 / 100 80 70 0 0 TYR 87 75 88 71 89 / 60 60 50 0 0 GGG 87 74 86 69 88 / 70 60 60 0 0 LFK 92 75 88 73 89 / 60 60 70 20 10 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 17/44
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 600 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096- 097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-111700- ANGELINA-BIENVILLE-BOSSIER-BOWIE-CADDO-CALDWELL-CAMP-CASS-CHEROKEE- CLAIBORNE-COLUMBIA-DE SOTO-FRANKLIN-GRANT-GREGG-HARRISON-HEMPSTEAD- HOWARD-JACKSON-LA SALLE-LAFAYETTE-LINCOLN-LITTLE RIVER-MARION- MCCURTAIN-MILLER-MORRIS-NACOGDOCHES-NATCHITOCHES-NEVADA-OUACHITA- PANOLA-RED RIVER LA-RED RIVER TX-RUSK-SABINE LA-SABINE TX- SAN AUGUSTINE-SEVIER-SHELBY-SMITH-TITUS-UNION AR-UNION LA-UPSHUR- WEBSTER-WINN-WOOD- 600 AM CDT MON AUG 11 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTHEAST AND DEEP EAST TEXAS...AND FOR NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY TODAY AND TONIGHT. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. SOME LOCATIONS IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA COULD RECIEVE 3 TO 4 INCHES OF RAINFALL BY TUESDAY MORNING...WILL ISOLATED AMOUNTS OF 5 INCHES. HEAVY RAINFALL MAY AT TIMES LEAD TO PONDING ON ROADWAYS. OTHERWISE... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE TO THE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PLAINS TUESDAY. AS A RESULT... THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN LIKELY AT TIMES TUESDAY...BEFORE TAPERING OFF TUESDAY EVENING. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. BY TUESDAY...SOILS MAY BE SATURATED ENOUGH TO RESULT IN A FLASH FLOOD THREAT FROM ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA. HEAVY RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO PONDING ON ROADWAYS AT TIMES. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER...HAM RADIO OPERATOR...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. 44
The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 165 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:53 UTC.
6 flash flood, 3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous roads were reported to be flooded in the city.
Localized street flooding was reported in Farmerville, Louisiana.
A driver drove through floodwaters on New Natchitoches road between Estates Road and Vancil Road. The vehicle was submerged but the driver was able to escape safely.
Highway 34 was flooded near Bawcomville. 8 to 12 homes were flooded due to several inches of water in them in the Bawcomville Community. Flooding was extensive near Standifer Avenue and Georgia Street.
Motorists reported flash flooding in the Garden District on 4th and 5th Streets.
Numerous roads remain flooded across central and western portions of the parish. Sporadic road closures were reported as well including Cheeks and Cheniere Station Roads and New Natchitoches road and Estates near Vancil Road.
Trees were downed blocking the road near Gibsland.
Several trees were downed in the community of Bienville, Louisiana.
A large tree was downed near Saline, Louisiana.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, August 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: 131958, 131964, 131976, 131978, 131983, 131987, 131988, 131989, 131990.