Heavy rain was noted on 4/17/2017 which caused flash flooding in Pulaski county. The weather pattern featured a front stalled across Arkansas, with areas of heavy rain/scattered thunderstorms to the north of the front as a storm system approached from the southern Plains on 04/21/2017.
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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 LZK wrote it up.
Heavy rain was noted on 4/17/2017 which caused flash flooding in Pulaski county. The weather pattern featured a front stalled across Arkansas, with areas of heavy rain/scattered thunderstorms to the north of the front as a storm system approached from the southern Plains on 04/21/2017. The system and associated precipitation exited to the east the next day.
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 Apr 17, 7:10 PM CST, 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Little Rock AR 810 PM CDT Mon Apr 17 2017 .UPDATE... Areas of precipitation developed over central Arkansas during the past few hours but are already showing some signs of dissipating. A subtle upper level feature can be made out just to the north of the metro based on the way the precipitation is moving around it and aided by a frontal boundary draped across central Arkansas. Pops updated for this increase in precipitation and then adjusted downward for tonight as daytime heating wanes and front continues to sag to the south. Will hold onto patchy fog tonight but if skies do clear out more than expected,this will likely lead to dense fog formation. Temperatures and dew points also tweaked based on current trends. All updates out. && .PREV DISCUSSION...(ISSUED 644 PM CDT Mon Apr 17 2017) AVIATION... Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms continue across mainly central sections but are expected to dissipate in the next few hours. Weak high pressure will build over the area with generally light winds expected. As such, fog will develop at most terminals overnight. MVFR conditions will predominate through most of the period with occasional IFR ceilings and visibility towards morning. Conditions will improve Tuesday afternoon. PREV DISCUSSION...(ISSUED 301 PM CDT Mon Apr 17 2017 ) SHORT TERM...Tonight Through Wednesday Night Regional radars show areas of very light rain falling from far northeast Arkansas back to the southwest across north central Arkansas and ending near Danville. There were some heavier isolated showers near Mountain Home and scattered thunderstorms were still ongoing over far southeast Arkansas. Water vapor satellite imagery showed a couple of strong shortwave troughs with one over the northern CONUS Rockies and the second over northern Mexico moving towards deep south Texas. Imagery over Arkansas was cluttered with convective debris with no obvious shortwave trough or ridge over the state. For tonight...raw model output indicates that scattered showers and thunderstorms will redevelop over parts of northern and central Arkansas by this evening with some persisting through midnight. Kept some low POPs in the forecast to account for this...but this solution seems a bit aggressive for model guidance with short term infrared and visible satellite imagery showing little evidence of lift/cooling cloud tops in this area. However cloud cover from earlier storms makes a high confidence diagnosis difficult so kept a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain in the forecast for most areas this evening and overnight. By early Tuesday morning...most model guidance agrees that a weak area of high pressure at the surface will build over the state allowing winds to calm and causing precipitation chances to diminish towards zero for the northern and central portions of the state. This weak area of high pressure is expected to remain along the AR/MO border as it moves east...bringing a weak frontal boundary over southern Arkansas. This boundary may provide a source of weak isentropic lift and frontogenetic forcing from tonight through Tuesday afternoon...so left a small chance of rain in the forecast across southern Arkansas to account for this lift. Across northern and central Arkansas...high pressure will result in nearly calm winds...which may lead to patchy...dense fog around sunrise. Went ahead with some patchy fog in the forecast to account for this...but may have to increase dense fog coverage and consider a dense fog advisory if clouds clear out more than expected. For Tuesday afternoon...with the weak frontal boundary in place... models are once again advertising convection across southern Arkansas. If the boundary is diffuse this may not pan out. Without any true upper level support or lift to speak of...kept the forecast on the lower side of guidance and only went with 20 to 30 POPs for most locations. Weak winds aloft should keep any threat of severe weather out of the forecast on Tuesday if thunderstorms develop across the southern portion of the state. Wednesday...As upper level troughing gets stronger over the northwestern CONUS...weak ridging aloft is expected over Arkansas on Wednesday. The boundary over southern Arkansas is expected to be completely dissipated by that time...and with weak ridging aloft expect conditions to remain dry. Highs on Wednesday are expected to climb into the lower to mid 80s for most areas Wednesday afternoon...but will remain cooler on Tuesday due to cloud cover holding in place for much of the day. Cavanaugh LONG TERM...Thursday Through Monday Primary focus during the extended term will be on a frontal boundary that will drop down and stall out across the area. Models are in fairly good agreement on bringing the front down into the NW part of the state early Thursday, and slowly bringing it down across the area through Friday morning. Exactly how far south the boundary will get remains questionable; GFS generally wants to bring it well into south AR, while the Canadian model, for example, only brings it into central AR. Regardless, the frontal boundary will be a focal point for convection. By late Friday into early Saturday a surface low will take shape over the southern Plains, and will move the boundary back to the north. Behind the surface low another, stronger cold front will sweep into the state from the west and northwest. Depending on the location of the low, the timing of the system, and just how far the warm front moves north - this could present a set up for severe weather across the area on Saturday. Above the surface the models bring a fairly vigorous upper low across the northern AR / southern MO area. In some model runs it appears that a broad portion of the area could end up under the left exit region of the jet, which would further the chances of severe weather. After the upper low passes and the surface high settles in, a meridional flow pattern will set in place across the region. This should set up the area for daily highs in the 60's to lower 70's from Sunday thru Tuesday, with overnight lows returning to the 40's and 50's. && .LZK Watches/Warnings/Advisories...NONE. && 56
Hazardous Weather Outlook...updated National Weather Service Little Rock AR 540 PM CDT Mon Apr 17 2017 ARZ003>007-012>016-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-181000- Boone-Marion-Baxter-Fulton-Sharp-Newton-Searcy-Stone-Izard- Independence-Johnson-Pope-Van Buren-Cleburne-Jackson-Logan-Conway- Faulkner-White-Woodruff-Scott-Yell-Perry-Polk-Montgomery-Garland- Saline-Pulaski-Lonoke-Prairie-Monroe-Pike-Clark-Hot Spring-Grant- Jefferson-Arkansas-Dallas-Cleveland-Lincoln-Desha-Ouachita-Calhoun- Bradley-Drew- 540 PM CDT Tue Apr 18 2017 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for a Large Part of Arkansas. .DAY ONE...Tonight Scattered showers and thunderstorm continue across parts of the state at this time but severe weather is not expected. The majority of the precipitation will dissipate shortly after sunset. Areas of fog, locally dense, will be possible overnight. Please exercise caution and be aware of areas where visibility is reduced. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday Strong thunderstorms could be possible late this week or early in the weekend, as a cold front moves across Arkansas. However, at this time, forecast details are uncertain. Continue to monitor the latest outlooks from your NWS office. .Spotter Information Statement... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time. && Visit NWS Little Rock on the web. Go to http://weather.gov/lzk. 46/57
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:03 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Local law enforcement has reported numerous underpasses and roads have started to flood.
Power lines were down and power was out on the north side of town.
Several trees were reported down throughout Johnson County with estimated wind speeds of 60-65 mph.
A large tree limb was reported down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, April 2017
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: 696496, 692529, 692530, 692531, 692532.