A weak upper level trough of low pressure lingered over portions of Western Arkansas, Southeast Oklahoma, and North Texas on August 20th, which was reinforced by another upper level trough and associated weak cold front. Showers and embedded thunderstorms developed near and just ahead of the trough and weak cold front during the pre-dawn hours, which moved into portions of extreme Northeast…
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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 SHV wrote it up.
A weak upper level trough of low pressure lingered over portions of Western Arkansas, Southeast Oklahoma, and North Texas on August 20th, which was reinforced by another upper level trough and associated weak cold front. Showers and embedded thunderstorms developed near and just ahead of the trough and weak cold front during the pre-dawn hours, which moved into portions of extreme Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma by mid-morning. Given the very moist air mass and weak wind shear in place, these showers and embedded thunderstorms produced locally heavy rainfall and moved very slowly over these areas, resulting in rainfall amounts of an inch and a half to in excess of three inches over Northern Red River County Texas into Western and Northern McCurtain County Oklahoma. Given the saturated grounds due to excessive rainfall amounts of five to in excess of eight inches that fell during the previous two weeks, numerous roads were flooded near the community of Watson in Northern McCurtain County Oklahoma.
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 20, 5:53 AM CST, 3 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Shreveport LA 653 AM CDT SAT AUG 20 2016 .AVIATION... For the 20/12Z TAFs, mostly IFR/MVFR cigs in place this morning with low level moisture pooling ahead of an approaching cold front. Numerous showers have developed this morning along and north of the I-30 corridor so the TXK terminal will be affected for much of today. Some isolated thunderstorms will be possible later today as heating enhances convection along the boundary. Farther south, convection will be more scattered along the I-20 terminals so confidence is not as high that all sites will see TSRA so have opted for VCTS to account for this uncertainty. Winds will be quite breezy out of the S/SW today just ahead of the front with speeds from 8-12 kts and possibly higher at times. The front will slow its progress this evening, and winds will go light and variable at most sites but gradually veer W/NW with fropa. Some redevelopment of lower cigs and convection will be possible after 21/03Z with the frontal boundary lingering across the region. /19/ && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 353 AM CDT SAT AUG 20 2016/ DISCUSSION... As have been the case the past several days, overnight and early morning radar analysis showed little to no precip activity and this morning is no exception. However, a broad ul trough translating east across the Central and North Plains has sent down a cold front draped from Southeast KS to across the South Plains early this morning, thus resulting in a cluster of showers and thunderstorms across the Rolling Plains and the Red River Valley areas. The HRRR and the NAM hints at the aforementioned precip activity possibly holding together and nearing Southeast OK a few hours after daybreak, with additional development mainly across Southeast OK and Northeast TX occurring ahead of the cold front along a mid-level theta-e axis. Brief moderate rainfall can not be ruled out. Elsewhere, daytime destabilization and plentiful low level moisture /PWATS aoa 2.00 inches/ may aid in the generation of isolated showers and thunderstorms, before a lull in precip once again takes place shortly after sunset. This lull does not look to last long as the cold front impinges on Southeast OK, Northeast TX and Northwest LA tomorrow morning, resulting in a mesoscale focus for precip. The Weather Prediction Center anticipates rainfall amounts up to aoa 1.00 inch across the aforementioned areas valid from 12Z this morning through 12z tomorrow morning, hence not excessive by any means. The cold front is shown to become quasi-stationary by tomorrow more or less across deep East TX and Central LA before becoming diffused. Though it will continue to play a factor for rainfall chances thus holding on to mentionable pops throughout the weekend is warranted. Early next week, an ul ridge across the Southeast CONUS and the Gulf is anticipated to slowly expand towards the Four-State region, leading to precip becoming less widespread. Driest day still appears to be Wednesday as the ECMWF in particular is aggressive in indicating the proximity of the center of the ul ridge to be almost overhead. This however will be short-lived as another broad ua trough progressing across the High/North Plains sends down yet another cold front and perhaps renewed precip chances by late week. Cloudy and rainy conditions will only allow temps to warm into the 80s with a few locales reaching the 90 degree mark today through Tuesday, with 90s becoming more commonplace by Wednesday. Thereafter, below norm temps will make a return /80s/ with the onset of precip. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 88 73 88 72 / 50 50 50 30 MLU 91 74 88 71 / 50 50 50 30 DEQ 82 68 86 68 / 80 50 30 10 TXK 82 70 85 69 / 70 50 50 30 ELD 84 71 84 69 / 70 50 50 30 TYR 84 72 86 72 / 70 50 50 40 GGG 86 72 87 72 / 60 50 50 30 LFK 91 74 90 73 / 50 40 50 30 && .SHV Watches/Warnings/Advisories... AR...None. LA...None. OK...None. TX...None. && 19/29
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 542 AM CDT SAT AUG 20 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>167-211045- 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- 542 AM CDT SAT AUG 20 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...TODAY AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS MAINLY SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS...NORTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT SLOWLY MOVING NEAR THE REGION. LOCALLY GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER STORMS...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE 20 CORRIDOR OF EAST TEXAS AND NORTH LOUISIANA. A LULL IN THE SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET...BUT A RESURGENCE MAY OCCUR LATE TONIGHT OR EARLY SUNDAY MORNING WITH THE APPROACH OF THE COLD FRONT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO BECOME STATIONARY SUNDAY OVER NORTH LOUISIANA AND EAST TEXAS...AND FOCUS ADDITIONAL SCATTERED SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE FRONT THROUGH TUESDAY. THE FRONT SHOULD LIFT BACK NORTH AND WASH OUT TUESDAY...WITH ANY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT BECOMING MORE ISOLATED BY WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...AS AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BEGINS TO BUILD WEST ALONG THE GULF COAST INTO PORTIONS OF THE REGION. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...SKYWARN NETWORKS...AND AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS...SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT.
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:02 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous county roads were flooded in and near the Watson community.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, 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: 645937.