Heavy rainfall over the western half of the state on December 26th led to minor flooding along the Fourche LaFave River.
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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 over the western half of the state on December 26th led to minor flooding along the Fourche LaFave 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 Dec 26, 12:05 PM CST, 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1205 PM CST MON DEC 26 2011 .AVIATION... -RA/RA WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER ALL THE TAF SITES THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON. MVFR WILL BE PREVALENT...WITH TEMPORARY IFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE AS CEILINGS LOWER. CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES WILL BE LOWER OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN TAF SITES. SHOWERS WILL TAPER OFF OVERNIGHT...WITH A RA/SN MIX POSSIBLE OVER NORTHERN SITES. VFR CONDITIONS WILL RETURN BY THE END OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...WITH WINDS SHIFTED TO THE WEST. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1111 AM CST MON DEC 26 2011/ UPDATE... JUST A QUICK UPDATE TO ACCOUNT FOR TEMP/PRECIP TRENDS THIS AFTN. RAIN WL CONT TO OVERSPREAD THE FA THIS AFTN AS AN UPR LOW TRACKS EWD ACRS NRN TX. POP FCST IN GOOD SHAPE. ADJUSTED HRLY TEMPS BASED ON CURRENT OBS AND EXPECT READINGS TO RMN FAIRLY STEADY LATER TODAY IN MOST AREAS. NO OTHER CHGS TO GOING FCST...ALL UPDATES ARE OUT. /44/ PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 358 AM CST MON DEC 26 2011/ SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT ATTENTION REMAINS ON RAIN CHANCES FOR TODAY...AND POTENTIAL FOR SNOW TONIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING. MODELS REMAIN IN GOOD AGREEMENT...WITH THE UPPER LOW GENERALLY TRACKING ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS OVERNIGHT. OTHER THAN SOME TWEAKS...THE CURRENT FORECAST HANDLES THE OVERALL SITUATION VERY WELL. OVERRUNNING RAINFALL ACROSS NORTHERN LOUISIANA WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST...WHILE RAIN ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LOW IS OCCURRING ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA. RAIN CHANCES WILL DRASTICALLY INCREASE AFTER SUNRISE...WITH CATEGORICAL RAIN CHANCES FOR THIS AFTERNOON. RAINFALL TOTALS WILL RANGE FROM HALF AN INCH ACROSS THE WEST...TO AN INCH AND A HALF ACROSS THE EAST. AS THE UPPER LOW MOVES EAST...PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING. AS THE LOW MOVES ACROSS THE STATE...THE COLD AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOW ITSELF...NOT THE SURFACE TEMPERATURES...WILL DETERMINE SNOW CHANCES. TEMPERATURES ASSOCIATED WITH THE UPPER LOW ARE ALWAYS THE QUESTION IN REGARDS TO WINTER PRECIPITATION. RUNS THIS MORNING HAVE COME IN A TAD WARMER...AND THIS WILL SLIGHTLY CHANGE SNOW CHANCES ACROSS NORTHERN ARKANSAS. SNOW WILL MIX IN WITH THE RAINFALL AFTER SUNSET TONIGHT IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF NORTHERN ARKANSAS...OR AREAS NORTH OF A CLARKSVILLE...TO CLINTON...TO BATESVILLE LINE. WHILE THINK THERE WILL BE SNOW...AM NOT EXPECTING MUCH ACCUMULATION...DUE TO WARM GROUND TEMPERATURES. ANY ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ON GRASSY AND ELEVATED SURFACES...BUT NOT EXPECTING TRAVELING ISSUES. AS THE SYSTEM QUICKLY MOVES EAST TUESDAY...PRECIPITATION WILL END BEFORE NOON...WITH SKIES CLEARING AND TEMPERATURES REBOUNDING QUICKLY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL KEEP A DRY FORECAST THROUGH THURSDAY. LONG TERM..FRIDAY THROUGH NEW YEARS DAY DETERMINISTIC MEDIUM RANGE MODELS START OUT IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT BEFORE DIVERGING SIGNIFICANTLY TOWARDS THE END OF THE PERIOD. DIFFERENCES COULD RESULT IN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF WINTER WEATHER ACROSS THE NORTH LATE IN THE PERIOD AS THE SLOWER ECMWF CARVES OUT ANOTHER UPPER LOW WHILE THE FASTER GFS DOES NOT. BASED ON THE SPEED OF THE OVERALL FLOW...I AM NOT QUITE SOLD ON THE SLOWER SOLUTION AT THIS POINT AND WILL LEAN TOWARDS THE GFS. REGARDLESS...THE SYSTEM IN QUESTION IS STILL ALMOST SEVEN DAYS OUT AND WILL TAKE A WAIT AND SEE APPROACH WITH UPCOMING MODEL RUNS. PERIOD INITIATES WITH NEARLY ZONAL FLOW IN PLACE WITH UPPER PATTERN BECOMING MORE AMPLIFIED WITH TIME AS WESTERN CONUS RIDGE STARTS TO REBUILD. SEVERAL CLIPPER TYPE SYSTEMS...WITH THEIR PARENT LOWS WELL TO THE NORTH...WILL PASS THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE PERIOD AS PATTERN REMAINS PROGRESSIVE IN NATURE. WITH LITTLE AVAILABLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...FIRST CLIPPER WILL MOVE THROUGH DRY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. SECOND SYSTEM HAS A LITTLE MORE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH AND WILL NEED TO INTRODUCE A FEW SHOWERS OVER THE SOUTHEAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY. MODELS DIFFERENCES COME INTO PLAY SUNDAY NIGHT WITH THE DEPARTING SYSTEM AS ECMWF CARVES OUT AN UPPER LOW OVER THE OHIO VALLEY EARLY MONDAY MORNING WHILE GFS HAS AN OPEN WAVE OVER NEW ENGLAND. WILL CONTINUE TO TREND TOWARDS THE GFS BUT KEEP A WAY EYE ON THE ECMWF WHICH HAS BEEN DOING A GOOD JOB THIS SEASON WITH UPPER LOWS. TEMPS WILL AVERAGE NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH ALL THE VERY COLD AIR LOCKED IN WELL TO THE NORTH. MAV/MEX NUMBERS LOOK REASONABLE AND ARE GENERALLY ACCEPTED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BATESVILLE AR 44 34 48 30 / 100 100 40 10 CAMDEN AR 48 40 54 32 / 100 80 10 10 HARRISON AR 40 32 48 28 / 90 80 20 10 HOT SPRINGS AR 48 38 53 31 / 100 80 10 10 LITTLE ROCK AR 48 37 52 31 / 100 90 20 10 MONTICELLO AR 49 40 52 33 / 100 90 10 10 MOUNT IDA AR 48 38 53 30 / 90 70 10 0 MOUNTAIN HOME AR 40 32 48 28 / 100 90 30 10 NEWPORT AR 45 35 48 30 / 100 100 40 10 PINE BLUFF AR 49 39 52 33 / 100 90 10 10 RUSSELLVILLE AR 47 36 51 30 / 100 80 20 10 SEARCY AR 46 36 50 30 / 100 100 30 10 STUTTGART AR 48 38 50 32 / 100 100 20 10 && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && AVIATION...61
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 500 AM CST MON DEC 26 2011 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-271100- 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 MON DEC 26 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STRONG STORM SYSTEM CURRENTLY OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS WILL MOVE EASTWARD TODAY AND TONIGHT BRINGING WIDESPREAD RAIN BACK TO THE NATURAL STATE. RAIN WILL OVERSPREAD THE STATE THIS MORNING AND BECOME WIDESPREAD DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. WITH A GENERALLY STABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE...SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES ARE VIRTUALLY NON EXISTENT. BY THE TIME THE STORM SYSTEM EXITS TO THE EAST...RAINFALL TOTALS WILL AVERAGE FROM HALF AN INCH ACROSS THE WEST TO AN INCH AND A HALF ACROSS THE EAST. AS THE UPPER LEVEL PART OF THE STORM SYSTEM PASSES OVER THE STATE TONIGHT...JUST ENOUGH COLD AIR ALOFT WILL CAUSE SOME WET SNOW TO MIX IN WITH THE RAIN OVER THE NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE...ROUGHLY NORTH OF A CLARKSVILLE TO CLINTON TO BATESVILLE LINE. WITH THE GROUND TEMPERATURE BEING WARM AND THE AIR TEMPERATURE ON THE SURFACE REMAINING ABOVE FREEZING FOR THE MOST PART...LITTLE IF ANY ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED. ANY ACCUMULATIONS THAT DO OCCUR WILL BE LIMITED TO GRASSY AREAS AND ELEVATED SURFACES BUT NO TRAVEL PROBLEMS ARE EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THERE WILL BE A LINGERING CHANCE OF RAIN AND LIGHT SNOW OVER THE NORTHEAST PART OF THE STATE EARLY TUESDAY AS MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO WRAP AROUND THE DEPARTING STORM. LITTLE IF ANY ADDITIONAL SNOW ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED TUESDAY MORNING. ONCE THE STORM SYSTEM EXITS THE REGION TUESDAY AFTERNOON...A RATHER BENIGN WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE MID SOUTH UNTIL LATE IN THE WEEK WITH HIGH PRESSURE WELL IN CONTROL. SEVERAL WEAK COLD FRONTS ARE EXPECTED TO PASS THROUGH THE AREA LATE IN THE WEEK AND OVER THE WEEKEND. OTHER THAN A FEW SHOWERS OVER THE SOUTHEAST SATURDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SUNDAY...THESE FRONTS WILL MOVE THROUGH WITH LITTLE FANFARE. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RUN ABOVE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR AS ALL THE VERY COLD AIR REMAINS LOCKED UP WELL TO THE NORTH. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 56
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall on December 26th caused the Fourche LaFave River near Houston to rise above flood stage for a little over 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: 354279.