Dry conditions resulted from lack of significant rainfall across Arkansas. This worsened drought conditions through November.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 JAN wrote it up.
Dry conditions resulted from lack of significant rainfall across Arkansas. This worsened drought conditions through November.
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 Jackson, MS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 20, 9:36 PM CST, 2 hours 24 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Jackson MS 936 PM CST Mon Nov 20 2017 .UPDATE... Updated for evening discussion. && .DISCUSSION... No major changes have been made with this evening update. Cold and dry conditions will prevail overnight, isolated areas of patchy frost may appear before sunrise. /SKH/ Prior discussion below: Tonight through Tuesday: Overall a quiet & cooler than normal night is expected tonight as the surface high pressure slowly builds off to the east. As that surface high drifts off the Atlantic seaboard, our area will continue to be in better return flow & dewpoints will slowly moderate into the lower 30s through the night. Due to a generally light pressure gradient, especially over the eastern half of the area, & PWs generally around a quarter of an inch, expect lows to continue to bottom out overnight in the low-mid 30s. Some areas in the Golden Triangle & northeastern third of the area could fall near freezing overnight. Due to just enough moisture around, patchy frost is again possible overnight. If enough wind stays up overnight, that might limit frost potential overnight. Due to the widespread freeze this morning, being past the growing season & all areas experiencing a freeze, we will not be introducing any type of freeze products in our HWO/graphics. As a deep longwave trough amplifies over the Great Lakes Tuesday, our area will continue to be under northwest flow aloft & continuing low level southerly return flow. This will help drive a dry cold front down towards region by Tuesday afternoon-evening. Our thermal profiles should warm enough ahead of it(3+ deg C at 925mb) to help us warm about 5-8 degrees tomorrow to near normals in the mid 60s or so. As the western portions of the trough somewhat is less phased in the western Gulf, some showers are possible along the Gulf Coast. However, the best forcing & moisture will remain off to our south, keeping the rain chances to our south & our area will remain dry. Due to increasing moisture, with dewpoints climbing into the upper 30s to low-mid 40s, fire weather concerns will not be an issue. /DC/ Tuesday night through Monday... The overall forecast remains mostly unchanged through the long term period with dry and cool conditions persisting as negative phases of both the North Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations help foster strong Greenland blocking and continued troughing over the East Coast. A series of shortwave troughs and associated dry cold fronts are progged to traverse the ArkLaMiss in the northwesterly mid and upper- level flow through the period with the strongest of these shortwaves diving through the Southern Plains and into the northern Gulf of Mexico during the day on Wednesday. This shortwave will help to push a dry cold front through the region with the front located south and east of the CWA by Thursday morning. A weaker shortwave trough will quickly follow Wednesday night, but with such dry profiles (PWATs less than 0.5 inches) only a few passing clouds are expected. A somewhat more pronounced wave and jet streak will help push through another dry cold front Saturday night/Sunday. No rain is expected during the long term period so low end fire weather concerns cannot be entirely ruled out primarily on Wednesday/Thursday and Saturday/Sunday during the frontal passages. In terms of temps, daytime highs will start off cool in the mid to upper 50s on Wednesday behind the first cold front and will gradually warm through the week into the mid to upper 60s by the weekend ahead of the second cold front. A few nights of freezing temps are expected Wednesday and Thursday nights mainly along and north of I-20 and in the Golden Triangle. /TW/ && .AVIATION... 00Z TAF discussion: VFR conditions are expected to prevail through the period with mostly clear skies. Winds will be out of the south and light through the night. /28/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Jackson 36 68 43 59 / 0 1 0 0 Meridian 35 67 42 60 / 0 0 0 0 Vicksburg 35 67 43 57 / 0 1 0 0 Hattiesburg 37 68 45 64 / 0 2 0 0 Natchez 37 68 45 58 / 0 6 0 0 Greenville 35 63 40 52 / 0 1 0 0 Greenwood 35 65 39 54 / 0 1 0 0 && .JAN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MS...None. LA...None. AR...None. && 12
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Jackson MS 319 PM CST Mon Nov 20 2017 ARZ074-075-LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026-MSZ018-019-025>066-072>074- 212130- Ashley-Chicot-Morehouse-West Carroll-East Carroll-Richland- Madison LA-Franklin LA-Catahoula-Tensas-Concordia-Bolivar- Sunflower-Leflore-Grenada-Carroll-Montgomery-Webster-Clay-Lowndes- Choctaw-Oktibbeha-Washington-Humphreys-Holmes-Attala-Winston- Noxubee-Issaquena-Sharkey-Yazoo-Madison MS-Leake-Neshoba-Kemper- Warren-Hinds-Rankin-Scott-Newton-Lauderdale-Claiborne-Copiah- Simpson-Smith-Jasper-Clarke-Jefferson-Adams-Franklin MS-Lincoln- Lawrence-Jefferson Davis-Covington-Jones-Marion-Lamar-Forrest- 319 PM CST Mon Nov 20 2017 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of southeast Arkansas, northeast Louisiana, central Mississippi, north central Mississippi, and south central Mississippi. .DAY ONE...Tonight and Tuesday The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday night through Sunday The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... The activation of storm spotters, HAM radio operators, and emergency management personnel in support of severe weather operations is not expected through next Sunday. 1 && ...HAZARD LEGEND... No short term hazards expected. ...USEFUL WEATHER WEB PAGES (URLS)... NWS JAN Home page... www.weather.gov/jan Stay Aware, Stay Safe NWS JAN Briefing Page... www.weather.gov/jan/safe Latest Weather Briefing... www.weather.gov/jan/weather_briefing Tropical page... www.weather.gov/jan/tropical National Hurricane Center Home Page... www.nhc.noaa.gov/ Find NWS JAN on Facebook... www.facebook.com/NWSJacksonMS Follow NWS JAN on Twitter... @NWSJacksonMS Follow NWS JAN on Youtube... www.youtube.com/user/NWSJacksonMiss
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Lack of rainfall across the region has led to a severe drought across portions of Arkansas. This includes severe drought (D2) level in Ashley County.
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, November 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: 724112.