Excessive rainfall in May pushed the Arkansas River stage above flood stage at Pine Bluff. Homes in the Island Harbour Subdivision were impacted by inundation or isolation by the Arkansas River.
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.
Excessive rainfall in May pushed the Arkansas River stage above flood stage at Pine Bluff. Homes in the Island Harbour Subdivision were impacted by inundation or isolation by the Arkansas River.
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 4, 5:37 AM CST, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 637 AM CDT MON MAY 4 2009 .AVIATION... WITH LINGERING MOISTURE AROUND...IFR AND LIFR CONDITIONS PREVAIL ACROSS THE FOUR SOUTHERN TAF SITES. ACROSS THE NORTH...MVFR CONDITIONS ARE PRESENT...BUT WILL IMPROVE DURING THE MORNING HOURS. HOWEVER...ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA...ANOTHER BAND OF LOW CLOUDS IS MOVING EAST WHERE CLEARING HAD TAKEN PLACE EARLIER. THIS WILL BE PROBLEMATIC THIS MORNING...WITH LIFR CONDITIONS. CIGS WILL SLOWLY IMPROVE THIS MORNING. HAVE INCLUDED SOME FOG DEVELOPMENT OVERNIGHT...AS GROUND MOISTURE WILL LINGER. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 400 AM CDT MON MAY 4 2009/ SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT LINGERING FNTL BNDRY WAS LOCATED JUST S OF AR EARLY THIS MRNG. PLENTY OF LOW LVL MOISTURE STILL IN PLACE ACRS THE FA...WITH PTCHY FOG AND LGT RAIN/DRIZZLE NOTED AT SOME LOCATIONS. MODELS INDC THAT MOISTURE WL RMN QUITE ABUNDANT FOR MOST OF THE DAY ACRS AR...SO PLAN TO LOWER MAX TEMPS A FEW DEGREES COMPARED TO GOING FCST. WL KEEP A MENTION OF LGT DRIZZLE IN FOR A FEW HRS THIS MRNG AS WELL. THE FNTL BNDRY S OF AR WL BEGIN LIFT BACK NWD LATE TNGT AND TUE IN RESPONSE TO A DVLPG STORM SYS IN THE SRN PLAINS. MODELS RMN FAIRLY CONSISTENT WITH DVLP AN MCS OVR OK ON TUE WHERE INCRSG LIFT/WAA PATTERN WL BE MAXIMIZED. THIS ACTIVITY IS PROGGED TO WORK EWD INTO AR LATE TUE AND TUE NGT. LOCALLY HVY RAIN WL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE. STILL SOME DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE MODELS WITH THE LOCATION OF THE AXIS OF HEAVIEST RAINFALL...SO HAVE USED A BLEND OF THE MODELS AND NCEP GUIDANCE. PRECIP WL LINGER INTO EARLY WED WITH DIMINISHING RAIN CHCS LATER IN THE DAY AS THE UPR SUPPORT SHIFTS E OF THE REGION. WEAK RDG OF HIGH PRES WL SETTLE OVR THE MID SOUTH FOR WED NGT AND MOST OF THU. A NEW STORM SYSTEM WL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF SCTD SHRA/TSRA TO THE FA LATE THU AND THU NGT. LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY WHILE THERE ARE SOME MINOR MODEL DISCREPANCIES...OVERALL TREND IS WELL RESOLVED. FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE STATE FRIDAY...AND WILL STALL SOMEWHERE ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS SATURDAY. THERE ARE SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES...AND HAVE KEPT POPS IN FOR SATURDAY DUE TO THIS. FRONT THEN WEAKENS AS UPPER ENERGY MOVES ACROSS THE NORTHEAST STATES...AND DID NOT INCLUDE POPS FOR SUNDAY. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && AVIATION...58
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 500 AM CDT MON MAY 4 2009 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-051000- 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 MON MAY 4 2009 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...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN TO THE STATE TUESDAY...AS A THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX DEVELOPS OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND MOVES EAST. UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEK...AS ANOTHER FRONT WILL MEANDER AROUND THE STATE FOR SEVERAL 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
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
In a subdivision of more than 40 homes, high stages on the Arkansas River cut off access for most of the month. There were two homes that received water damage.
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, May 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: 171990.