Heavy rainfall from December 14th through December 16th and from December 19th through December 20th caused several rivers over western Arkansas to rise above flood stage.
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.
Heavy rainfall from December 14th through December 16th and from December 19th through December 20th caused several rivers over western Arkansas to rise above flood stage.
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 15, 2:32 PM CST, 5 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 232 PM CST THU DEC 15 2011 .SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT COLD FRONT HAS MOVED THROUGH MOST OF THE AREA...BUT HAS SLOWED OR ALMOST STALLED ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. COLDER AIR MOVED INTO NORTHERN ARKANSAS TODAY...WITH MUCH OF THE NORTH SEEING HIGHS EARLY THIS MORNING. ENERGY MOVING OUT OF THE DESERT SOUTHWEST TROUGH HAS BROUGHT SHOWERS TO RED RIVER REGION OF TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA...AND NOW STRETCHES INTO ARKANSAS. AS MOISTURE MOVES AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM...IT WILL FALL INTO THE COOLER AIR IN PLACE ACROSS THE NATURAL STATE. THE LAST SEVERAL RUNS OF THE MODELS CONTINUED TO SHOW THE PRECIPITATION BAND MOVING NORTHWEST...AND HAVE INCREASED POPS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ARKANSAS TONIGHT DUE TO THIS FEATURE. THERE WILL BE A SHARP CUT OFF TO THE PRECIPITATION...WITH THE SMALLEST POPS IN AREAS ALONG THE MISSOURI BORDER. EVEN WITH THE HIGHER POPS...RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE LIGHT...RANGING FROM ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH...TO NEAR AN INCH ACROSS WEST CENTRAL INTO CENTRAL ARKANSAS. THAT BEING SAID...WITH THE COOLER AIR IN PLACE...IF ENOUGH MOISTURE MOVES ACROSS THE FAR NORTH...A FEW SNOW FLAKES MAY MIX IN WITH THE RAIN. HAVE ADDED A SLIGHT CHANCE OF LIGHT SNOW TO THE NORTH AFTER MIDNIGHT...BUT NO ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED. AS THE SYSTEM MOVES EAST FRIDAY MORNING...POPS WILL DECREASE FROM WEST TO EAST. CLOUDS WILL DECREASE...BUT WITH COOLER AIR MOVING IN...HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL ONLY BE IN THE 40S. DRY WEATHER WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND...AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE STATE. TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN A WARMING TREND AS SOUTHERLY FLOW RETURNS. THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL MOVE IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST SUNDAY NIGHT...AND WILL CONTINUE INTO THE LONG TERM. && .LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY PERIOD WILL BEGIN WITH SURFACE RIDGING MOVING TO THE EAST...AND A CLOSED-OFF UPPER LOW AND ASSOCIATED TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE SOUTHWEST. RAIN CHANCES WILL INCREASE AS SOUTHWEST UPPER FLOW PUSHES A COLD FRONT AND SURFACE LOW PRESSURE UP TOWARD THE REGION. THE FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY. PRECIP WILL COME TO AN END AS THE FRONT MOVES EAST OF THE AREA BY TUESDAY NIGHT. FLOW ALOFT WILL BECOME ZONAL...WITH ANOTHER...SIMILAR SYSTEM APPROACHING BY THURSDAY AND RAIN CHANCES INCREASING ONCE AGAIN. FOR THE MOST PART...TEMPERATURES WILL BE WITHIN FIVE DEGREES OF SEASONAL AVERAGES...THE ONLY EXCEPTION BEING MONDAY NIGHT LOWS. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && SHORT TERM...58 / LONG TERM...57
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 502 AM CST THU DEC 15 2011 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-161115- 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- 502 AM CST THU DEC 15 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AREAS OF SHOWERS AND POSSIBLY AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OR TWO WILL CONTINUE IN THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE STATE TODAY. WHILE HEAVY RAINFALL IS NOT EXPECTED...A QUARTER TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH OF RAIN OCCUR IN THOSE AREAS TODAY...WITH LOCALLY OVER AN INCH BEING POSSIBLE. RIVER FLOODING ALSO CONTINUES ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE STATE...WITH AREAS OF CONCERN ALONG THE BLACK...LOWER WHITE...AND CACHE RIVERS. RESIDENTS AND THOSE WITH INTERESTS ALONG THESE RIVERS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE FLOODING ONGOING AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A STORM SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE REGION FROM THE SOUTHWEST EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE SYSTEM WILL BRING WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS BY MONDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO HTTP://WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall during the middle of December caused the Petit Jean River at Danville to rise above flood stage for several days.
Heavy rainfall during the middle of December caused the Fourche LaFave River at Houston to rise above flood stage for several days.
Heavy rainfall during the middle of December caused the Petit Jean River at Danville to rise above flood stage for a day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, December 2011
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: 354270, 354272, 354274.