Showers and thunderstorms tended to be isolated to scattered on the 29th. All of this precipitation was the result of a relentless northwest wind flow aloft bringing storm systems and fronts into Arkansas from the Plains.
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.
Showers and thunderstorms tended to be isolated to scattered on the 29th. All of this precipitation was the result of a relentless northwest wind flow aloft bringing storm systems and fronts into Arkansas from the Plains.
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 Jul 29, 1:55 PM CST, 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 255 PM CDT WED JUL 29 2009 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT CONVECTION HAD CONTD TO DVLP ACRS MUCH OF THE FA THIS AFTN. LOCALLY HVY RAINFALL HAS BEEN NOTED IN SOME LOCATIONS. ACTIVITY HAS BEEN AIDED BY A COMBO OF AFTN HEATING AND A DVLPG SFC LOW LOCATED ALONG A LINGERING SFC BNDRY. THE BNDRY WAS SITUATED OVR NRN AR...MAINLY ALONG A KFSM TO KHKA LINE. UNSETTLED WEATHER RMNS FCST FOR THE AREA THRU THU. ANOTHER UPR LVL IMPULSE WL INTERACT WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED FNTL BNDRY AND PRODUCE PDS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVR MUCH OF AR LATER TNGT AND THU. DUE TO THE ALREADY SATURATED GROUND CONDITIONS...ALONG WITH HIGH PW VALUES...WL RESULT IN A CONTD THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING. A WATCH RMNS POSTED FOR THE ENTIRE FA TNGT INTO THU EVENING. SVR WX CHCS LOOK TO BE LIMITED DUE TO ABUNDANT CLOUD COVER AND LIMITED INSTABILITY. A NEW CDFNT IS FCST TO AFFECT THE AREA THU NGT AND FRI. THE FNT IS PROGGED TO EVENTUALLY STALL OUT OVR SRN AR BY FRI...WITH LINGERING SHRA/TSRA CHCS NOTED. THE NAM AND GFS RMN CONSISTENT AND HAVE STAYED CLOSE TO THEIR SOLUTIONS LATE IN THE WEEK. THE BNDRY IS FCST LIFT SLOLY NWD FRI NGT AND SAT...WITH CHC POPS MENTIONED. && .LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY MODELS REMAIN IN FAIRLY DECENT AGREEMENT IN THE SYNOPTIC SCALE WITH THE USUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE SMALLER SCALE DETAILS. WITH NO ONE MODEL SHOWING GOOD RUN TO RUN CONSISTENCY AND NORTHWEST FLOW CONTINUING...FEEL THE BEST APPROACH AT THIS POINT IS TO GO WITH A BLEND OF FORECAST SOLUTIONS. LARGE CLOSED LOW WILL APPROACH THE CALIFORNIA COAST NUDGING THE STRONG H5 RIDGE OVER THE WEST TO THE FOUR CORNERS. HOWEVER...UPPER TROF WILL BE PUSHED ONLY SLIGHTLY EASTWARD FROM ITS CURRENT POSITION KEEPING AREA IN NORTHWEST FLOW THROUGH THE PERIOD AS PERSISTENT CYCLONIC FLOW CONTINUES. MODELS MOVE A FRONTAL SYSTEM THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA SUNDAY MORNING WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES CONTINUING. GFS QPF SEEMS OVERDONE AND WILL ONLY CARRY SCATTERED POPS AT THIS POINT AND WILL DECREASE THEM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST AS HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN. AS OF NOW...WILL LEAVE BOTH MONDAY AND TUESDAY DRY NO SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVES ARE NOTED. WILL INTRODUCE SOME POPS VERY LATE IN THE PERIOD AS NEXT FRONT APPROACHES. WITH CLOUDS AND RESIDUAL PRECIPITATION IN THE AREA...TEMPERATURES SUNDAY WILL BE CLOSE TO NORMAL. NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ON DAYS SIX AND SEVEN. MAV/MEX NUMBERS LOOK GOOD AND ARE GENERALLY ACCEPTED. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH LATE THURSDAY NIGHT FOR 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. && SHORT TERM...44 / LONG TERM...56
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 930 AM CDT WED JUL 29 2009 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-301000- 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- 930 AM CDT WED JUL 29 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STALLED FRONT ACROSS THE REGION AT THIS TIME WILL INTERACT WITH INSTABILITY PRODUCED BY DAYTIME HEATING...WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING. WHILE WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED...ANY STORM COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS... ESPECIALLY OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE STATE. ANOTHER CONCERN WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL...AS ANY STORM THAT DEVELOPS WILL BE SLOW MOVING. THIS ALSO BRINGS THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING...ESPECIALLY IN POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. A SECOND FRONT WILL ENTER NORTHERN ARKANSAS TONIGHT...BRINGING ANOTHER ROUND OF HEAVY RAINFALL DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. SOME LOCATIONS ACROSS NORTHERN ARKANSAS MAY RECEIVE ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAINFALL TONIGHT. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT BEGINNING THIS EVENING...AND CONTINUING THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE FRONT WILL CONTINUE MOVING ACROSS THE STATE THURSDAY...AND WILL STALL SOMEWHERE OVER THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE STATE. HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE INTO THE DAYTIME HOURS THURSDAY. AMOUNTS WILL AVERAGE TWO TO THREE INCHES...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR UP TO FOUR INCHES ACROSS THE SOUTH. FLASH FLOODING WILL REMAIN A CONCERN...AS THE GROUND IS ALREADY SATURATED. RAIN CHANCES WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND INTO THE BEGINNING OF NEXT WEEK...AS FRONTS WILL CONTINUE TO ENTER THE STATE AND THEN STALL. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR SEVERAL DISTURBANCES TO MOVE ALONG THE FRONT...BRINGING MANY ROUNDS OF RAINFALL. HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING WILL REMAIN A CONCERN...AS THE GROUND WILL ALREADY BE SATURATED. THE RAINFALL FORECAST IS DEPENDENT ON WHERE THE FRONTS STALL...AND WILL BE REFINED IN THE COMING DAYS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 58/56
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:34 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 52 year-old woman was injured by lightning while selling melons at a roadside stand. She was holding onto a metal post supporting a tent-like canopy when the lightning struck.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, July 2009
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: 182795.