Flooding in Arkansas, February 1 to 28, 2010

Name: Flooding in Arkansas, February 1 to 28, 2010
Start: 2010-02-01T00:00
End: 2010-02-28T23:59
Location: Arkansas

February 1 to 28, 2010 · NWS LZK · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Well above normal rainfall from previous months, combined with planned reservoir releases, caused many rivers across Arkansas to remain above flood stage into February. Additional heavy rainfall and melting snow pack also contributed to keeping rivers at elevated levels.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS LZK wrote it up.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jan 31, 11:45 PM CST, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 31, 11:45 PM CST, 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATE FOR AVIATION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1145 PM CST SUN JAN 31 2010

.AVIATION...
OVERALL VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED WITH ISOLATED MVFR AND IFR.
SCATTERED TO BROKEN HIGH CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM OVER AR FROM
THE SW OVERNIGHT AND THROUGH MUCH OF MONDAY. IFR VSBY FROM FOG AND
FZFG WILL BE POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT...ESPECIALLY AT KHRO...KBPK AND
KHOT. CENTRAL AND SOUTH TAF SITES COULD SEE MVFR CIGS AND VSBY WITH
THE FOG...THOUGH VSBY/CIGS COULD DROP TO IFR LEVEL BRIEFLY. VFR
CONDITIONS EXPECTED FOR MONDAY AFTERNOON. WINDS LIGHT FROM THE EAST
TO SOUTHEAST OVERNIGHT...THEN SOUTHEAST 5 TO 10 MPH ON MONDAY. (59)

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 250 PM CST SUN JAN 31 2010/

SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT

SOME LOW CLOUDS STILL LINGER OVR PARTS OF CNTRL AND W-CNTRL AR
ATTM. ELSEWHERE...ABUNDANT SUNSHINE HAS PUSHED THE MERCURY ABV THE
FRZG MARK OVR MICH OF THE FA. VISIBLE SAT DATA SHOWS SNOW COVER
ACRS ROUGHLY THE NRN HALF OF THE STATE...WHICH WL CONT TO PLAY A
ROLE IN TEMPS FOR THE NEXT FEW PDS.

SFC HIGH WL CONT TO SHIFT EWD...ALLOWING SELY WINDS TO RETURN TO THE
REGION OVR THE NEXT FEW DAYS. IN THE MEANTIME...EXPECT PTCHY FRZG
FOG TO FORM LATER TNGT...ESP ACRS NRN SECTIONS WHERE DEEPER SNOW
COVER EXISTS. WL LET EVENING SHIFT MONITOR VSBY TRENDS THIS EVENING
FOR POSSIBLE ADVY LATER TNGT.

A QUICK MOVG WEAK CDFNT WL PASS THRU AR LATE MON NGT AND TUE. ONLY
EXPECT A WIND SHIFT AND AN INCRS IN CLOUDS ASSOCD WITH THE FROPA.
COLDEST AIR BEHIND THE FNT WL PASS N AND E OF THE FA AS A NEW HIGH
PRES RDG PASSES ACRS THE REGION.

THE HIGH WL DRIFT SLOLY TOWARDS THE OH VALLEY BY MIDWEEK...BUT RMN
CLOSE ENOUGH TO AR TO KEEP MAINLY DRY CONDS. A NEW STORM SYS WL
SLOLY APCH FM THE SW LATE WED/WED NGT...WITH INCRSG MID AND HIGH LVL
CLOUDS EXPECTED. CANNOT RULE OUT A SMALL CHC OF LGT RAIN OVR SWRN AR
LATE WED NGT. TEMPS ARE EXPECTED TO RMN WARM ENOUGH TO KEEP PRECIP
ALL LIQUID.

MOS TEMPS IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT THROUGHOUT THE PD. DID UNDERCUT
READINGS SOMEWHAT OVR PARTS OF NRN AND NERN AR TO ACCOUNT FOR
LINGERING SNOW COVER.

LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

FRONT WILL BE OUT IN THE WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE PERIOD...WITH LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPING ALONG IT. AT THE SAME
TIME...UPPER SYSTEM WILL BE MOVING OUT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST...
WHICH WILL PUSH THE SURFACE LOW UP TOWARD ARKANSAS. THIS WILL
BRING RAIN BACK INTO THE FORECAST...WITH A POSSIBLE WINTRY MIX IN
THE NORTH AND WEST THURSDAY NIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY. SURFACE SYSTEM
WILL MOVE WELL EAST OF THE AREA LATE FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY...WITH
PRECIP COMING TO AN END. TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR TO SLIGHTLY
BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL AVERAGES.

&&

.LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.
&&

AVIATION...62

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 31, 10:30 PM CST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
1030 PM CST SUN JAN 31 2010

ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-011100-
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-
1030 PM CST SUN JAN 31 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

PATCHY DENSE FREEZING FOG WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN...ESPECIALLY WHERE
APPRECIABLE SNOW COVER STILL EXISTS. THIS INCLUDES MUCH OF NORTHERN
ARKANSAS. IN THIS AREA...SLUSHY OR WATER COVERED ROADS WILL
REFREEZE OVERNIGHT...WITH HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

A SLOW WARMING TREND IS EXPECTED MONDAY AND TUESDAY. A STORM SYSTEM
WILL FORM IN THE WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO LATER IN THE WEEK...AND WILL
TRACK TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES. MAINLY RAIN IS EXPECTED
WITH THE SYSTEM LATE WEDNESDAY THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY.

.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.

59/46

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Woodruff

When: February 1, 12:00 AM CST to February 28, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Woodruff County, 1.78 mi SE of Goodrich to New Salem
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: River/Stream Gage
Coordinates: 35.310, -91.210

This flooding is a continuation of flooding from December, 2009, and January, 2010. Heavy rainfall on the 23rd and 24th of December, 2009, caused the Cache River near Patterson to rise above flood stage. The river remained above flood stage through the entire months of January and February. Additional heavy rainfall on February 8th, combined with melting snow pack also aided in keeping the river above flood stage.

Flood, Monroe

When: February 1, 12:00 AM CST to February 28, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Monroe County, 1.77 mi NNW of Clarendon to 0.8 mi W of Clarendon
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: River/Stream Gage
Coordinates: 34.704, -91.309

This is a continuation of flooding from December, 2009 and January, 2010. Heavy rainfall in December, 2009, caused the White River at Clarendon to rise above flood stage. The river remained above flood stage through the entire month of January and February. Additional heavy rainfall on February 8th, combined with melting snow pack also aided in keeping the river above flood stage.

Flood, Woodruff

When: February 1, 12:00 AM CST to February 28, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Woodruff County, 1.26 mi WNW of Augusta to 2.16 mi N of Augusta
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: River/Stream Gage
Coordinates: 35.286, -91.391

This is a continuation of flooding from December, 2009 and January, 2010. Heavy rainfall in December, 2009, caused the White River at Augusta to rise above flood stage. The river remained above flood stage through the entire month of January and February. Additional heavy rainfall on February 8th, combined with melting snow pack also aided in keeping the river above flood stage.

Flood, Prairie

When: February 1, 12:00 AM CST to February 16, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Prairie County, 2.58 mi ESE of Enarc to 0.93 mi WSW of Lost Hill
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: River/Stream Gage
Coordinates: 35.021, -91.506

This flooding is a continuation of flooding from December, 2009 and January, 2010. Heavy rainfall on the 23rd and 24th of December, 2009, caused the White River at Des Arc to rise above flood stage. The river remained above flood stage through the entire month of January and the first half of February. Additional heavy rainfall on February 8th, combined with melting snow pack also aided in keeping the river above flood stage.

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Arkansas in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in Arkansas, February 2010

Sources

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: 216354, 217079, 217080, 217081.