Late afternoon thunderstorms occurred across parts of west-central Arkansas, aided by intense surface heating and a weak upper level disturbance passing over the region. There was an isolated occurrence of damaging winds resulting from a decaying thunderstorm.
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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 TSA wrote it up.
Late afternoon thunderstorms occurred across parts of west-central Arkansas, aided by intense surface heating and a weak upper level disturbance passing over the region. There was an isolated occurrence of damaging winds resulting from a decaying thunderstorm.
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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 4, 5:11 PM CST, 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 611 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2012 .AVIATION... CONCERNING TAF SITES KTUL/KRVS/KBVO/KMLC/KXNA/KFYV/KFSM. FOR THE 0Z TAFS... VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL AT ALL TAF SITES OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL SUBSIDE SHORTLY ACROSS THE REGION. GUSTY SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL BE BACK AFTER SUNRISE. HAVE WIND SHEAR IN THE KFSM TAF AFTER 3Z DUE TO WINDS ALOFT. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 300 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2012/ DISCUSSION... TOUGH SHORT TERM FORECAST CONVECTION WISE. VORT MAX VERY APPARENT ON SATELLITE OVER OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON...AND HIGH BASED SHOWERS/STORMS HAVE BEEN ONGOING IN ITS VICINITY ALL DAY. IT IS LIKELY THAT SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA WILL SEE AT LEAST SOME LIGHT RAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE BIG QUESTION IS WHETHER MORE VIGOROUS THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL OCCUR AS A RESULT OF THE VORT MAX AND THE HIGH INSTABILITY ACROSS THE AREA. LOCAL MESOANALYSIS INDICATES THAT A FAIRLY STRONG CAP REMAINS ACROSS THE AREA. ONGOING MID/HIGH CLOUD COVER IS INHIBITING EROSION OF THE CAP BY DAYTIME HEATING ALONE. THE CONCLUSION IS THAT THE LIKELIHOOD OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS DECREASING...SO WILL ONLY CARRY A SLIGHT CHANCE POP ACROSS ALL BUT THE FAR NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE FORECAST AREA AFTER 00Z. THIS CONCLUSION IS SUBJECT TO REVIEW PRIOR TO FINAL FORECAST ISSUANCE HOWEVER. WELL ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES SHOULD PREVAIL INTO SUNDAY...PRIOR TO THE ARRIVAL OF A COLD FRONT LATE SUNDAY AND MONDAY. WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS WILL ACCOMPANY THE FRONT MAINLY SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...BEFORE DRY WEATHER ARRIVES AREAWIDE BY TUESDAY. MUCH COOLER TEMPERATURES WILL FOLLOW THE FRONT...WITH HIGHS FOR THE EARLY PART OF THE WEEK ONLY A FEW DEGREES ABOVE WHAT LOWS WERE THIS MORNING. THE ECMWF HAS JUMPED ON THE GFS BANDWAGON FOR THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK...FEATURING AN UPPER LOW MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. WILL INTRODUCE SOME SMALL POPS FOR FRIDAY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS FEATURE. && .TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OK...NONE. AR...NONE. && AVIATION...06
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 410 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2012 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-051000- ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK- CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK- LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK- OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK- PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK- WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR- 410 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2012 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. .DAY ONE...THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...LATE AFTERNOON. SIGNIFICANT WINDS. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. DISCUSSION... A FEW ELEVATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS PORTIONS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON IN RESPONSE TO AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING OVER THE AREA. THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINS VERY UNSTABLE...HOWEVER A WARM LAYER ALOFT HAS KEPT STORMS FROM BECOMING SURFACE BASED...THUS PRECLUDING ANY SEVERE THREAT. THERE IS STILL A SLIGHT CHANCE THAT A FEW SURFACE BASED STORMS COULD DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING. IF THIS OCCURS...THIS ACTIVITY WOULD LIKELY BE SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. ANY SEVERE THREAT SHOULD END BY MID EVENING WITH THE LOSS OF HEATING. SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... LOCAL SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. SATURDAY...NO HAZARDS. SUNDAY...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. MONDAY...THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...NO HAZARDS. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL BE ON THE INCREASE BEGINNING SUNDAY AS ANOTHER PASSING UPPER DISTURBANCE PUSHES A SURFACE COLD FRONT INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTH. STORM CHANCES WILL BE HIGHEST AHEAD OF THE BOUNDARY GIVEN THE INSTABILITY IN THE WARM SECTOR...WITH SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING. STORM CHANCES WILL LINGER INTO MONDAY AS THE BOUNDARY CLEARS THE AREA. COOLER AND STABLE AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA BEHIND THE FRONT FOR MID WEEK. WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:23 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Brief downburst winds from a decaying thunderstorm caused damage to a barn.
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, May 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: 383390.