The severe weather setup for March 18th was not a lot different than the setup for severe weather that occurred across the Four State Region on March 17th. An elevated boundary remained nearly stationary north of the Interstate 20 corridor of Northern Louisiana and Northeast Texas.
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 SHV wrote it up.
The severe weather setup for March 18th was not a lot different than the setup for severe weather that occurred across the Four State Region on March 17th. An elevated boundary remained nearly stationary north of the Interstate 20 corridor of Northern Louisiana and Northeast Texas. Likewise, a warm front was moving northward during the day towards the Interstate 20 corridor which allowed for increasing moisture and instability to reach the corridor by late morning into the afternoon hours. Weak disturbances aloft continued to move eastward out of Northern Texas and these disturbances provided the lift necessary for scattered severe thunderstorms, mainly over portions of extreme Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and Northern Louisiana. An isolated strong thunderstorm developed southwest of Garvin, Oklahoma, which produced dime size hail.
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 Mar 18, 9:00 AM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1000 AM CDT FRI MAR 18 2016 .DISCUSSION... WARM FRONT CURRENTLY LOCATED JUST INLAND ALONG THE LA AND SE TX GULF COAST FORECAST TO MOVE N AND INLAND THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ACCORDINGLY...EXPECT SCT SHOWERS AND TSTMS TO DEVELOP WITH THE HEATING OF THE DAY. ELSEWHERE A QUITE INTERESTING UNDULAR BORE FEATURE AS NOTED ON THE CURRENT VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY ACROSS CENTRAL AND W CENTRAL TX MOVING SE THIS MORNING TOWARD S CENTRAL TX. NO CHANGES PLANNED FOR CURRENT TEXT AND GRID FORECASTS AT THIS TIME. WE MAY REEVALUATE CURRENT FORECAST HIGH TEMPERATURES FOR THIS AFTERNOON AS WIDESPREAD CLOUDS MAY REDUCE HIGHS BY A CATEGORY. /VIII./ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 73 51 61 37 / 50 50 20 0 MLU 71 52 60 39 / 50 50 20 0 DEQ 65 40 60 29 / 60 40 10 0 TXK 68 44 60 35 / 60 50 10 0 ELD 68 47 59 33 / 50 50 10 0 TYR 72 46 60 36 / 60 50 10 0 GGG 72 48 61 36 / 60 50 20 0 LFK 79 54 64 39 / 50 60 20 0 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 08
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1139 AM CDT FRI MAR 18 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>167-191645- 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- 1139 AM CDT FRI MAR 18 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 DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE REGION...NEAR AND NORTH OF A WARM FRONT THAT SHOULD LIFT NORTH TO NEAR OR JUST SOUTH OF THE INTERSTATE 20 CORRIDOR BY LATE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL SHIFT SOUTHEAST INTO THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND TAP INTO THE WARM...MOIST...AND UNSTABLE AIR NEAR THE FRONT...SUCH THAT SOME STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE THROUGH THIS EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY THREATS...WITH BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL ALSO POSSIBLE. THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DIMINISH FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST TONIGHT...AS A COLD FRONT SWEEPS SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... MUCH COLDER AIR WILL SETTLE SOUTH INTO THE REGION THIS WEEKEND...WITH THE PROTECTED AREAS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND ADJACENT SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS POSSIBLY EXPERIENCING FREEZING TEMPERATURES SUNDAY MORNING. BETTER RADIATIONAL COOLING IS EXPECTED AREAWIDE SUNDAY NIGHT...WITH MUCH OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS POSSIBLY OBSERVING FREEZING TEMPERATURES. ELSEWHERE...AREAS OF FROST ARE EXPECTED...WHICH MAY HARM TENDER VEGETATION. AREA RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS IN PROTECTING TENDER VEGETATION FROM THESE COLD TEMPERATURES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS...SKYWARN NETWORKS...AND AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS...MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 169 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:42 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Dime to penny size hail fell at the Choctaw Travel Plaza on Highway 37 near the Oklahoma/Texas state line.
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, March 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: 616365.