Several heavy rain events from January 23rd through January 27th pushed portions of the White, Cache and Petit Jean Rivers 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.
Several heavy rain events from January 23rd through January 27th pushed portions of the White, Cache and Petit Jean Rivers 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 Jan 25, 11:39 PM CST, 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1139 PM CST WED JAN 25 2012 .AVIATION... WIDESPREAD SHRA HAS SHIFTED TO THE EAST LATE THIS EVENING...WITH ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED -RA ONGOING ACROSS NWRN SECTIONS OF THE STATE. EXPECT THE -RA TO CONTINUE ACROSS THIS PORTION OF THE STATE...AS WELL AS REDEVELOPING FURTHER SOUTH ACROSS CENTRAL AND SRN AR DURING THE OVERNIGHT HRS. LOW CIGS AND PATCHY FOG IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT AND THROUGH MUCH OF THU...WITH CONDITIONS AS LOW AS LIFR POSSIBLE. IMPROVING CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HRS THU AS THE STORM SYSTEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RAINFALL MOVES EAST OF THE STATE. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1011 PM CST WED JAN 25 2012/ UPDATE... HAVE SEEN AN OVERALL DCRS IN RAIN COVERAGE FM THE SW THIS EVENING AS SHRTWV LIFTS NEWD THRU THE REGION. HAVE RECENTLY SEEN SOME BRIEF GUSTY WINDS ACRS PARTS OF CNTRL AR WHICH APPEAR TO BE ASSOCD WITH A QUICK FALL...THEN RISE IN SFC PRES BEHIND THE PRECIP SHIELD. CURRENT RUC/HRRR DATA CONT TO INDC DIMINISHING RAIN CHCS FOR MUCH OF THE FA OVERNIGHT...SO LOWERED POPS TO MAINLY CHC CAT. TEMPS HAVE RMND FAIRLY STEADY ACRS THE FA THIS EVENING..WITH JUST SOME MINOR COOLING EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. FCST MINS LOOK GOOD AND ADJUSTED HRLY READINGS TO REFLECT LATEST TRENDS. NO OTHER CHGS TO THE FCST... ALL PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN UPDATED. /44/ PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 241 PM CST WED JAN 25 2012/ SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS LOW PRESSURE OVER NORTHEAST TEXAS...WITH AN ASSOCIATED WARM BOUNDARY EXTENDING INTO FAR SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS. NORTH OF THE BOUNDARY...RAIN HAS BEEN PREVALENT ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE...WITH ONLY PATCHY PRECIP OVER THE EASTERN HALF. AS THE SURFACE LOW MOVES EAST NORTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...RAIN WILL GRADUALLY OVERSPREAD THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA. THERE COULD BE A FEW AREAS THAT SEE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...BUT THE THREAT IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE AS WIDESPREAD AS ORIGINALLY THOUGHT. THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL TOTALS WILL BE MOSTLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 40...WITH AMOUNTS OF AN INCH OR TWO POSSIBLE THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON. SEVERE WEATHER THREAT LOOKS TO BE LOW WITHIN MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA...AS ALL BUT MAYBE THE FAR SOUTHEAST WILL STAY ON THE COOL SIDE OF THE SURFACE LOW...AND INSTABILITY WILL BE ELEVATED. ANY THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE ISOLATED...AND MOSTLY OVER SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. RAIN WILL WIND DOWN THURSDAY AFTERNOON...AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PUSHES IN TO THE ARKLATEX REGION...AND SHOVES ANY LINGERING PRECIP TO THE EAST OF ARKANSAS. THERE COULD BE PATCHY LIGHT RAIN LINGERING INTO THE EARLY EVENING...BUT ALL PRECIP IS EXPECTED TO BE GONE BY MIDNIGHT...AS COOL HIGH PRESSURE MOVES IN ON NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THE HIGH WILL MOVE QUICKLY EAST...WITH A WEAK BOUNDARY MOVING THROUGH THE STATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. THERE COULD BE PATCHY LIGHT RAIN IN THE NORTHERN HALF BEFORE DAWN SATURDAY...WITH A POSSIBLE MIX OF SNOW FLURRIES IN THE FAR NORTH. HIGH PRESSURE WILL PUSH IN BEHIND THIS WEAK SYSTEM...WITH CLOUDS CLEARING OUT SATURDAY EVENING. LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES MADE TO THE EXTENDED. HIGH PRESSURE WILL PASS THROUGH ARKANSAS ON SUNDAY...WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW RETURNING BY SUNDAY NIGHT. SUNDAY TEMPS WILL BE AROUND NORMAL...BUT A WARMING TREND WILL BE NOTED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED. EXPECT TEMPERATURES ON MONDAY TO BE SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL...WITH UPPER 50S TO EVEN MID 60S POSSIBLE THROUGH THE REST OF THE PERIOD. CLOUDS WILL INCREASE THROUGH THE DAY MONDAY AHEAD OF THE NEXT FRONT SET TO AFFECT THE AREA ON TUESDAY. MODELS CONTINUE TO DIFFER ON THE SPEED AND STRENGTH OF THE ASSOC UPPER LEVEL FEATURES...WITH THE GFS ABOUT 6HRS FASTER THAN THE CANADIAN. PREVIOUS SHIFT HAD SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN FOR TUE AND TUE NIGHT. THIS CONTINUES TO LOOK LIKE A REASONABLE FORECAST AND HAVE LEFT AS IS. REGARDLESS OF WHICH MODEL YOU BELIEVE THAT SYSTEM EXITS TO THE EAST BY LATE TUE NIGHT...LEAVING DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA FOR WEDNESDAY. && .LZK WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && AVIATION...62
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1130 PM CST WED JAN 25 2012 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-261100- 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- 1130 PM CST WED JAN 25 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR A LARGE PART OF ARKANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE MAJORITY OF THE PRECIPITATION HAS EXITED THE AREA AT THIS TIME BUT SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. IN AREAS WHERE SHOWERS ARE NOT OCCURRING...DRIZZLE AND FOG WILL PERSIST. THE FOG WILL REDUCE VISIBILITY AT TIMES THROUGH THE NIGHT. EXERCISE CAUTION IF TRAVELING ACROSS ARKANSAS TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY RAIN CHANCES WILL CONTINUE INTO THURSDAY...BEFORE THE UPPER SYSTEM MOVES EAST...AND RAIN ENDS FROM WEST TO EAST. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING DRY WEATHER FOR FRIDAY...BEFORE A WEAK FRONT MOVES INTO THE STATE SATURDAY...BUT MOISTURE WILL BE LIMITED WITH THIS FRONT. .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. 58/56
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A series of heavy rain events in late January pushed the Petit Jean River at Danville above flood stage for a day in late January.
A series of heavy rain events in late January pushed the Cache River at Patterson above flood stage in late January.
A series of heavy rain events in late January pushed the White River at Augusta above flood stage in late January.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, January 2012
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: 356811, 356809, 356810.