Heavy rain from December 4th through December 7th caused many rivers across 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 rain from December 4th through December 7th caused many rivers across 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 4, 11:57 AM CST, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1157 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011 .AVIATION...18Z TAF CYCLE FNTL BNDRY WAS SITUATED ALONG THE MS RVR AT LATE MRNG...WITH LTL MOVEMENT EXPECTED INTO MON. A SERIES OF UPR LVL IMPULSES WL RESULT IN CONTD PDS OF RAINFALL ACRS THE FA THRU MOST OF THE PD. EXPECT MAINLY MVFR/IFR CONDS THRU THE FCST PD...WITH SOME IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE ACRS NRN AR BY MON MRNG. /44/ && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 526 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011/ SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT A FRONT WILL STALL IN SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS TODAY/TONIGHT. AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL DEVELOP ALONG/NORTH OF THE FRONT...WITH THE HEAVIEST RAIN OVER THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE STATE. THIS INCLUDES AREAS SOUTH AND EAST OF MELBOURNE...RUSSELLVILLE AND MENA. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN POSTED FOR THESE AREAS. TWO TO FIVE INCHES OF RAINFALL IS EXPECTED IN THE WATCH AREA...WITH LOCALLY MORE THAN SIX INCHES. IN ADDITION TO THE FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL...RIVERS WILL BE ON THE RISE FOLLOWING THIS MUCH RAIN. PORTIONS OF THE ARKANSAS...CACHE... LITTLE RED...OUACHITA...SALINE AND WHITE RIVERS ARE ALONG THE AXIS OF HEAVIEST RAIN...AND WILL BE MONITORED CLOSELY. MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING APPEARS LIKELY ALONG THESE RIVERS. THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR WINTRY PRECIPITATION...BUT IMPACTS WILL BE MUCH LESS THAN THE HIGH WATER SITUATION. AS COLDER AIR BUILDS BEHIND THE STALLED FRONT...SOME SLEET COULD MIX WITH RAIN IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS LATE TONIGHT. AS COLD AIR DEEPENS...THERE COULD BE A PERIOD OF LIGHT SNOW/SLEET MONDAY MORNING IN THE NORTHWEST BEFORE THE PRECIPITATION SHIELD SHIFTS TO THE EAST. FOR NOW... HAVE A HALF INCH OR LESS OF ACCUMULATION IN PORTIONS OF BOONE AND NEWTON COUNTIES. PRECIPITATION WILL EXIT THE REGION LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON/MONDAY EVENING AS THE FRONT FINALLY GAINS SOME MOMENTUM TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES. DRIER AIR AND BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT. THERE IS ONE RIPPLE TO WATCH IN THE FORECAST. A SYSTEM ALOFT IS SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ON WEDNESDAY. MOST DATA SHOWS A LACK OF MOISTURE AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM. HOWEVER...IF ENOUGH MOISTURE CAN BE TAPPED INTO FROM THE GULF COAST...MAY HAVE TO INTRODUCE CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION WEDNESDAY/WEDNESDAY NIGHT. STAY TUNED. LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY AN UPPER TROUGH WILL BE OVER THE SOUTHEAST U.S. TO BEGIN THE LONG TERM PERIOD. A DEEP UPPER TROUGH WILL DROP THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST LATE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. THIS FEATURE WILL MOVE EAST OF ARKANSAS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE OVER ARKANSAS THURSDAY AND EARLY FRIDAY. A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE NORTHERN PLAINS THURSDAY AND THROUGH ARKANSAS ON FRIDAY. LITTLE MOISTURE SEEMS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FRONT SO JUST AN INCREASE IN CLOUDS IS EXPECTED. NO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED WITH THIS FRONT AT THIS TIME. HIGH PRESSURE WILL AGAIN BE OVER THE AREA SATURDAY. NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THURSDAY...THEN BELOW NORMAL FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR ARKANSAS-BRADLEY- CALHOUN-CLARK-CLEBURNE-CLEVELAND-CONWAY-DALLAS-DESHA-DREW- FAULKNER-FULTON-GARLAND-GRANT-HOT SPRING-INDEPENDENCE-IZARD- JACKSON-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-LINCOLN-LOGAN-LONOKE-MONROE-MONTGOMERY- OUACHITA-PERRY-PIKE-POLK-POPE-PRAIRIE-PULASKI-SALINE-SCOTT-SHARP- STONE-VAN BUREN-WHITE-WOODRUFF-YELL. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 500 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-051100- 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 SUN DEC 4 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SLOW MOVING FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH CENTRAL ARKANSAS THIS MORNING AND STALL IN SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS. HEAVY PRECIPITATION WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA TODAY...MAINLY ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST HALF OF THE STATE. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. 2 TO 6 INCHES OF RAINFALL IS EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS THROUGH MONDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE POTENTIAL FOR EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE FRONT WILL REMAIN STALLED ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS MONDAY MORNING BEFORE MOVING EAST MONDAY AFTERNOON. CONDITIONS ARE QUITE SATURATED ACROSS MOST AREAS...AND ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CONTRIBUTE TO FLASH FLOODING. ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE FRIDAY. HOWEVER...NO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED WITH THIS SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED SUNDAY AND MONDAY. && VISIT NWS LITTLE ROCK ON THE WEB. GO TO WEATHER.GOV AND CLICK ON CENTRAL ARKANSAS. 51
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall at the beginning of December caused the Petit Jean River at Danville to rise above flood stage for several days.
Heavy rainfall at the beginning of December caused the Little Red River at Judsonia to rise above flood stage for a day.
Heavy rainfall at the beginning of December caused the Fourche LaFave River at Houston to rise above flood stage for several days.
Heavy rainfall at the beginning of December caused the Saline River at Benton to rise above flood stage for a several hours.
Heavy rainfall at the beginning of December caused the White River at Des Arc to rise above flood stage for several days.
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: 354265, 354268, 354264, 354266, 354269.