Severe drought spread to Sharp, Independence, Cleburne, and Faulkner counties the last week in December.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Severe drought spread to Sharp, Independence, Cleburne, and Faulkner counties the last week in December.
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 Dec 28, 5:45 AM CST, 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 545 AM CST TUE DEC 28 2010 .AVIATION... STRATUS MOVING NORTH...AND WILL LOWER TO MVFR CONDITIONS AFTER SUNRISE. IT WILL TAKE SOME TIME FOR THE COLUMN TO MOISTEN...SO HAVE HELD OFF ON IFR CONDITIONS UNTIL LATE IN THE AFTERNOON...AND THEN RAINFALL HOLDING OFF UNTIL AFTER 00Z. ACROSS THE NORTHERN SITES...THINK MVFR FOG WILL DEVELOP AS STRATUS WILL NOT BE WIDESPREAD THERE...AND HAVE ADDED TO TAF AFTER 09Z. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 400 AM CST TUE DEC 28 2010/ SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT NO APPRECIABLE CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE TO THE FORECAST AS SHORT TERM MODELS CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE A RAPIDLY AMPLIFYING UPPER PATTERN AND SPLIT FLOW REGIME DEVELOPING OVER THE CONUS. MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH THE PERIOD MOVING A DEEP UPPER TROF/LOW INTO THE WESTERN CONUS WITH JUST A FEW MINOR STRENGTH AND TIMING DIFFERENCES NOTED...NONE THAT WILL HAVE A LASTING IMPACT ON OUR SENSIBLE WEATHER. THAT BEING SAID...WILL SIMPLY BLEND FORECAST SOLUTIONS THIS MORNING. LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS THE HIGH PRESSURE THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR CHILLY MONDAY HAS SHIFTED TO THE EAST WITH RETURN FLOW ALREADY UNDERWAY. WARMER AIR EVIDENT ON SURFACE OBSERVATIONS AT TXK AND POINTS TO THE SOUTHWEST. HIGHS TODAY WILL WARM NICELY BUT STILL AVERAGE A FEW DEGREES BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMS AS UNFOLDING WARM AIR ADVECTION PATTERN ACCOMPANIES A SOUTHERN STREAM SHORTWAVE TROUGH ADVANCING TOWARDS THE REGION. AS SYSTEM NEARS...MOISTURE WILL INCREASE AND EMBEDDED VORT MAX IN THE PREVAILING FLOW WILL GENERATE WIDESPREAD STRATIFORM PRECIP. CLOUDS WILL OVERSPREAD THE REGION DURING THE DAY WITH MAIN VORT MOVING INTO EAST TEXAS WITH WEAKER DISTURBANCE MOVING INTO WESTERN ARKANSAS BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. BOTTOM LINE IS RAIN WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT AND CONTINUE FOR A GOOD PART OF WEDNESDAY. MODELS ONCE AGAIN CAME IN A LITTLE STRONGER WITH THE FEATURE VERSUS THIS TIME LAST NIGHT AND ONCE AGAIN...WILL BUMP UP POPS A TAD. STILL BELIEVE THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS WILL FALL OVER SOUTHERN ARKANSAS AND ESPECIALLY ALONG THE GULF COAST. STILL...FEEL IT IS NECESSARY TO INCREASE QPF AS WELL BUT NOT TO THE EXTENT THE GFS IS SHOWING AS THIS MODEL SEEMS TO BE HAVING SOME FEED BACK CONCERNS. BUFKIT DATA/MODEL SOUNDINGS AND OVERALL THERMAL PROFILE OF THE ATMOSPHERE SUPPORTS AN ALL LIQUID EVENT AND WILL REMOVE ALL MENTION OF MIXED PRECIPITATION FROM THE CURRENT GRIDS/ZONES. WIDESPREAD RAINFALL WILL END BY WEDNESDAY EVENING...BUT WILL HOLD ON TO SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THURSDAY FOR ANY LEFTOVER LIGHT RAIN. ONCE THIS SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH...PRONOUNCED RIDGING WILL BE OVER THE EASTERN PACIFIC WITH DEEP TROUGHING/UPPER LOW PRESSURE LOCATED OVER THE WESTERN CONUS. DEEP SOUTHWEST FLOW WILL BE IN PLACE FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WITH INCREASING MOISTURE BUT ALSO WIDESPREAD TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S. OVERALL THE MAV/MEX NUMBERS LOOK REASONABLE AND ARE GENERALLY ACCEPTED. AS AFOREMENTIONED WESTERN SYSTEM ADVANCES TO THE EAST/NORTHEAST...IT WILL DRAG A COLD FRONT TOWARDS THE STATE. THE FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA FRIDAY WITH SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN ADVANCE OF AND ACCOMPANYING THE BOUNDARY. STILL CAN NOT RULE OUT STRONG TO ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AS WIND FIELD LOOKING VERY IMPRESSIVE BUT AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AVAILABLE REMAINS THE INHIBITING FACTOR. COLDER AIR WILL BEGIN TO WORK ITS WAY BACK IN BUT THE MAJORITY OF THE MOISTURE WILL BE SHUNTED EAST BY THAT TIME. LONG TERM...NEW YEARS DAY THROUGH MONDAY WHILE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW MUCH OF MOISTURE EAST OF THE AREA BY NEW YEARS DAY...BUT HAVE KEPT SMALL RAIN CHANCES IN. THIS IS BECAUSE THE CANADIAN...AND TO SOME DEGREE THE GFS AND EURO...HAVE A SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS THE STATE AS THE UPPER TROUGH WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO MOVE THROUGH THE REGION. TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOL ENOUGH FOR A RAIN SNOW MIX ACROSS THE NORTHWEST...BUT THINK IT WILL BE VERY LIGHT/FLURRIES. HIGH PRESSURE WILL FOLLOW...WITH DRY CONDITIONS AND SLIGHTLY COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && AVIATION...58
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 500 AM CST TUE DEC 28 2010 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-291100- 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 CST TUE DEC 28 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SYSTEM ALOFT WILL APPROACH FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM...MOISTURE...CLOUDS AND RAINFALL CHANCES WILL ALL BE ION THE INCREASE. SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL BE POSSIBLE TOWARDS MORNING...MAINLY OVER THE SOUTHWEST PART OF THE STATE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL PASS OVER THE STATE DURING THE DAY WEDNESDAY WITH RAIN BECOMING LIKELY STATEWIDE. THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION WILL FALL ACROSS SOUTHERN AND SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS WHERE A HALF INCH TO AN INCH AMOUNTS COULD OCCUR...WITH LOCALLY MORE. RAIN WILL CONTINUE A GOOD PORTION OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS WELL BEFORE TAPERING OFF TO JUST SCATTERED SHOWERS. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS ON THURSDAY...AND WILL TRACK TOWARD THE UPPER MIDWEST ON FRIDAY. THE SYSTEM WILL DRAG A COLD FRONT THROUGH ARKANSAS ON FRIDAY. THERE WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT WARMUP DURING THIS TIME FRAME...AND A SURGE OF MOISTURE. THIS WILL DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE...WITH A SPRINGLIKE PATTERN SUGGESTING A CHANCE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT. HOWEVER...THERE IS SOME QUESTION AS TO HOW MUCH DESTABILIZATION WILL OCCUR. ALSO...THE STORM SYSTEM AND ITS ENERGY WILL BE WELL TO THE NORTH...WHICH WILL MAKE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR STRONG STORMS TO DEVELOP. AS THE SYSTEM PULLS AWAY FROM THE REGION LATE SATURDAY AND INTO SATURDAY NIGHT...COLDER AIR WILL POUR BACK INTO THE STATE. THERE MAY BE A BRIEF PERIOD OF WINTER WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL ARKANSAS. THE SITUATION WILL BECOME MORE CLEAR AS ADDITIONAL DATA IS RECEIVED 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. 56
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought conditions developed over all but western sections of Sharp County late in December.
Severe drought conditions developed over all but northwestern sections of Independence County late in December.
Severe drought conditions developed over southeastern Cleburne County late in December.
Severe drought conditions developed over all but northwestern sections of Faulkner County late in December.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, December 2010
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: 268596, 268597, 268598, 268599.