A hot, humid, and unstable air mass was in place across much of the Ark-La-Tex region on August 25th, which sat on the western periphery of an upper level ridge of high pressure that was anchored over the Tennessee Valley. An upper level disturbance rounded this ridge to the northwest over the region during the afternoon, contributing to the development of scattered to numerous showers and…
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The episode as NWS SHV wrote it up.
A hot, humid, and unstable air mass was in place across much of the Ark-La-Tex region on August 25th, which sat on the western periphery of an upper level ridge of high pressure that was anchored over the Tennessee Valley. An upper level disturbance rounded this ridge to the northwest over the region during the afternoon, contributing to the development of scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms over much of Southwest Arkansas, North Louisiana, and portions of East Texas. These storms continued to redevelop along outflow boundaries as they built westward during the afternoon and evening, but moved very little resulting in locally heavy rain falling over the same areas over an extended period of time. Given the already saturated grounds from an abnormally wet August, these heavy rains quickly ran off, resulting in areas of flash flooding across portions of extreme Northwest Louisiana and Southwest Arkansas. Widespread rainfall amounts of one to three inches, with isolated higher amounts near four inches, fell over much of North Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas, and portions of East Texas.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 25, 3:09 PM CST, 36 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Shreveport LA 409 PM CDT THU AUG 25 2016 .DISCUSSION... Latest water vapor loops clearly show a rich plume of tropical moisture streaming northwest into the area from the Gulf of Mexico and around the western periphery of an upper ridge centered over the Southeast U.S. An upper wave moving west through the Gulf has tapped into this moisture and aided in development quite a bit of convection over Southern Arkansas, much of Louisiana, and portions of East Texas. Steering flow aloft is relatively weak. PW values above 2 inches combined with training cells could lead to some localized flooding with this activity. Convection is mainly diurnally driven and is expected to greatly diminish after sunset. Large scale ascent from this Gulf wave will remain over the area and will allow at least a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms tonight before coverage and intensity increase during the daytime hours of Friday. A severe weather threat is not anticipated, but gusty winds and a localized flooding threat are possible with the stronger storms. By Saturday, the Gulf wave will be just off the Texas coast. A surface low will develop with the wave, which will shift most of the deepest moisture south and west of the CWA. Thus, chances for diurnal convection will gradually decrease through the weekend, but a chance for scattered thunderstorms will remain possible during the daytime hours especially southwest of a line from Broken Bow, OK, to Jena, LA. The low will move farther inland into Texas by the beginning of next week leaving most of the CWA on the dry side. The best rain chances Monday through Wednesday will generally be limited to the far southern zones in Deep East Texas eastward into Central Louisiana. As rain chances decrease, temperatures will gradually climb back into the mid 90s. Heat indices may rise above 100 degrees F and possibly approach advisory criteria. Concerning the tropics...the tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea continues to be relatively unorganized. Considerable uncertainty still exists with this system. However, the latest operational models and ensembles are currently keeping this potential tropical system well east of our CWA. /09/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 75 92 74 93 / 20 60 20 30 MLU 74 93 74 93 / 20 50 20 30 DEQ 73 89 72 91 / 20 60 20 30 TXK 73 90 73 91 / 20 60 20 30 ELD 74 91 73 92 / 20 50 20 30 TYR 74 89 73 91 / 20 60 20 30 GGG 73 90 73 91 / 20 60 20 30 LFK 74 91 74 91 / 20 60 20 30 && .SHV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... AR...None. LA...None. OK...None. TX...None. && 09
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1156 AM CDT THU AUG 25 2016 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-261100- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN-DE SOTO- RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE-NATCHITOCHES-WINN- GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE-FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP- MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG-HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK- PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA-SAN AUGUSTINE- 1156 AM CDT THU AUG 25 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE TODAY WITH ISOLATED ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. ANY MID TO LATE DAY STRONG STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. HOWEVER...NO WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT IS EXPECTED. THE RECENT HEAVY RAINS AND SATURATED SOILS COULD LEAD TO ISOLATED FLOODING IN LOW-LYING OR POOR DRAINAGE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN ON FRIDAY. AIR TEMPERATURES WILL LINGER IN THE LOWER 90S...COMBINED WITH THE HIGH HUMIDITY... AFTERNOON HEAT INDICES WILL BE NEAR 105 OVER THE WEEKEND AND POSSIBLY ABOVE 105 DEGREES EARLY NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...SKYWARN NETWORKS AND AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. 09
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 320 PM CDT THU AUG 25 2016 ARZ070-071-LAZ001-TXZ112-252100- MILLER AR-LAFAYETTE AR-CADDO LA-CASS TX- 320 PM CDT THU AUG 25 2016 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN LAFAYETTE AND SOUTHWESTERN MILLER COUNTIES...NORTHWESTERN CADDO PARISH IN NORTHWESTERN LOUISIANA AND EAST CENTRAL CASS COUNTIES UNTIL 400 PM CDT... AT 320 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER BRIGHTSTAR...OR 11 MILES EAST OF ATLANTA. THIS STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY. DIME SIZE HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... ATLANTA...QUEEN CITY...FOUKE...IDA...BRIGHTSTAR...RAVANNA... BLOOMBURG...KIBLAH AND FORT LYNN. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE. && LAT...LON 3320 9376 3296 9391 3305 9421 3332 9400 TIME...MOT...LOC 2020Z 123DEG 3KT 3313 9396 05
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
348 PM CDT THU AUG 25 2016
ARZ059-060-070-TXZ097-252130-
MILLER AR-HEMPSTEAD AR-LITTLE RIVER AR-BOWIE TX-
348 PM CDT THU AUG 25 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN LITTLE RIVER...
NORTHWESTERN MILLER...WESTERN HEMPSTEAD AND EAST CENTRAL BOWIE
COUNTIES UNTIL 430 PM CDT...
AT 348 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR
MANDEVILLE...OR NEAR TEXARKANA...MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.
DIME SIZE HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
TEXARKANA...ASHDOWN...OGDEN...MANDEVILLE...HOMAN...MILLWOOD...
RED BLUFF AND PINE PRAIRIE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD
TO FLASH FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED
ROADWAYS.
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
&&
LAT...LON 3375 9391 3344 9379 3338 9405 3369 9419
3376 9404
TIME...MOT...LOC 2048Z 158DEG 11KT 3354 9398
05The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:46 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Highway 332 west of Interstate 30 was covered in high, swift moving water. Report via a picture from the KTAL-TV Facebook page.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, August 2016
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: 646302.