The month started with seasonal heat on the 5th, and afternoon temperatures in the upper 80s to mid 90s. High soil moisture levels contributed to elevated humidity, and this created heat index values from the mid 90s to around 105 degrees.
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 LZK wrote it up.
The month started with seasonal heat on the 5th, and afternoon temperatures in the upper 80s to mid 90s. High soil moisture levels contributed to elevated humidity, and this created heat index values from the mid 90s to around 105 degrees. There was some relief coming from the north. Decaying thunderstorms in Missouri sent cool outflow toward Arkansas, and this triggered new storms north of Little Rock (Pulaski County).
Once storms materialized across the north, they were severe in some cases. Trees and/or power lines were downed at Ash Flat (Sharp County) and five miles northeast of Pocahontas (Randolph County). Flash flooding was reported along Highway 115 just north of Pocahontas (Randolph County). Lightning sparked two house fires in Maynard (Randolph County).
Some locations in the northern half of the state received one to two inches of rain. Eight miles southwest of Hardy (Sharp County) 1.82 inches fell, 1.81 inches a few miles south of Bruno (Marion County), 1.57 inches about five miles northeast of Scranton (Logan County), and 1.55 inches at Mountain View (Stone County). These totals occurred in a twenty four hour period ending at 700 am CDT on the 6th.
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 Jul 5, 1:39 PM CST, 29 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Little Rock AR 239 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019 .SHORT TERM...Today Through Sunday Strong high pressure over Texas will maintain northwest to north flow aloft over Arkansas with various impulses moving around the high and through the flow over the state. This will lead to daily chances of mainly afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms with the best potential for activity mainly over the northern two- thirds of the forecast area. Some storms may become strong with the potential for severe winds and hail, along with brief heavy rain. Overall, temperatures look to remain around average through the period. && .LONG TERM...Sunday Night Through Friday Not a lot of changes to the extended term forecast. A strong ridge is forecast to build across the western US, which will put Arkansas on the eastern edge of the system. Under that pattern, temperatures across Arkansas are going to get quite warm - with mid to upper 90's across the lower elevations of the state, with upper 80's in the higher mountain regions. Late in the period, by Thursday and Friday - the upper level flow becomes more northerly, and this should allow a weak cool front to dip down into the area. Of course, "cool" is a relative term, and in this case we are talking about temperatures falling back into the lower 90's, instead of the mid to upper 90's. As for rain chances, most of the area will experience the typical low chance POPs for afternoon and evening convection, especially across the eastern half of the state, which is further from the ridge. POPs may become a bit more widespread as the front pushes down into the state late in the period, although that is far from certain at this range. On a final note, the ECMWF is hinting at possible tropical development in the Gulf beyond the extended term. Last year the ECMWF seemed to do quite well at picking up on developing tropical systems sooner than the other models, but this is still a long way out and a lot could change. Nonetheless, it bears watching. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Batesville AR 73 89 74 91 / 30 40 20 40 Camden AR 73 95 75 95 / 0 20 10 20 Harrison AR 69 89 70 87 / 30 40 30 40 Hot Springs AR 74 91 75 93 / 10 30 20 30 Little Rock AR 76 92 76 93 / 10 30 20 30 Monticello AR 74 94 75 93 / 0 20 20 30 Mount Ida AR 73 90 74 92 / 10 30 20 20 Mountain Home AR 70 90 71 89 / 40 40 20 40 Newport AR 74 90 73 91 / 30 40 20 30 Pine Bluff AR 74 93 74 93 / 10 30 20 30 Russellville AR 74 91 74 92 / 20 40 20 40 Searcy AR 74 92 74 92 / 20 40 20 30 Stuttgart AR 74 92 75 92 / 10 30 20 30 && .LZK Watches/Warnings/Advisories...NONE. && Short Term...19 / Long Term...53
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Little Rock AR 409 AM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019 ARZ003>008-012>017-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-061000- Boone-Marion-Baxter-Fulton-Sharp-Randolph-Newton-Searcy-Stone- Izard-Independence-Lawrence-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- 409 AM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for a Large Part of Arkansas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible this afternoon into the early evening hours across mainly the northern half of the state, however the threat for organized hazardous weather remains low. With warm and humid conditions in place, heat indices will approach the 100 degree mark this afternoon across the southern half of the state. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday Hot and humid conditions will persist for the next several days...with heat index values approaching the 100 degree mark. Some days next week could see heat index values warm near or above 105 degrees. Showers and thunderstorms will be in the forecast nearly every day...with the best chances for seeing thunderstorms during the afternoon and early evening hours. While a few storng to briefly severe thunderstorms could be seen each day...the threat for organized severe weather should remain low. .Spotter Information Statement... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time. && Visit NWS Little Rock on the web. Go to http://weather.gov/lzk.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Little Rock AR
130 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
ARZ006-007-014-015-017-051915-
Lawrence AR-Stone AR-Sharp AR-Fulton AR-Izard AR-
130 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTH CENTRAL STONE...IZARD...
SOUTHEASTERN FULTON...WEST CENTRAL LAWRENCE AND CENTRAL SHARP
COUNTIES UNTIL 215 PM CDT...
At 130 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Wideman, or 9 miles northwest of Melbourne, moving east at 55 mph.
Pea size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with this
storm.
Locations impacted include...
Cherokee Village... Melbourne...
Ash Flat... Horseshoe Bend...
Calico Rock... Highland in Sharp County...
Hardy... Oxford...
Pineville... Franklin...
Sidney... Ballard...
Brandenberg... Lone Star...
Wideman... Gorby...
Gid... Stella...
Lunenburg... Myron...
LAT...LON 3603 9130 3594 9210 3617 9217 3618 9216
3621 9216 3643 9153
TIME...MOT...LOC 1830Z 254DEG 50KT 3615 9203
19Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Little Rock AR
218 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
ARZ007-008-015-017-052000-
Lawrence AR-Randolph AR-Sharp AR-Izard AR-
218 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CENTRAL RANDOLPH...EAST CENTRAL
IZARD...NORTHWESTERN LAWRENCE AND SHARP COUNTIES UNTIL 300 PM CDT...
At 218 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along
a line extending from near Highland in Sharp County to 7 miles
northeast of Sidney to Lunenburg. Movement was east at 20 mph.
Pea size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with these
storms.
Locations impacted include...
Pocahontas... Cherokee Village...
Melbourne... Ash Flat...
Black Rock... Cave City...
Highland in Sharp County... Hardy...
Imboden... Ravenden...
Mount Pleasant... Strawberry...
Lynn... Sidney...
Ravenden Springs... Annieville...
Brandenberg... Lone Star...
Gid... Attica...
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Torrential rainfall is also occurring with these storms, and may lead
to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
&&
LAT...LON 3636 9095 3609 9113 3593 9140 3598 9208
3615 9175 3625 9162 3625 9157 3631 9155
TIME...MOT...LOC 1918Z 267DEG 19KT 3626 9147 3610 9160 3601 9194
CavanaughSpecial Weather Statement
National Weather Service Little Rock AR
241 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
ARZ008-052030-
Randolph AR-
241 PM CDT Fri Jul 5 2019
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR RANDOLPH COUNTY UNTIL 330 PM
CDT...
At 241 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Pocahontas, moving northeast at 15 mph.
Pea size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with this
storm.
Locations impacted include...
Pocahontas... Reyno...
Maynard... Biggers...
O'Kean... Attica...
Elkins Park... Brakebill...
Middlebrook... Warm Springs...
Ingram... Shannon...
Hamil... Stokes...
Fender... Elnora...
Engelerg... Manson...
Lesterville... Brockett...
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm, and may lead
to localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
&&
LAT...LON 3648 9077 3643 9078 3643 9076 3642 9077
3641 9075 3628 9075 3628 9078 3629 9079
3629 9081 3615 9081 3615 9105 3650 9113
3650 9078
TIME...MOT...LOC 1941Z 239DEG 12KT 3629 9097
CavanaughPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
245 PM CDT FRI JUL 05 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0205 PM TSTM WND DMG ASH FLAT 36.23N 91.61W
07/05/2019 SHARP AR TRAINED SPOTTER
A TREE WAS REPORTEDLY BLOWN DOWN IN ASH FLAT. ESTIMATE
WIND SPEEDS OF 50 MPH.
&&
EVENT NUMBER LZK1900163
CAVANAUGHThe Memphis radar (KNQA), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:06 UTC.
1 lightning, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning started two house fires in Maynard according to a trained storm spotter in the area.
Randolph County Emergency Manager reported power lines down and blocking a portion of Highway 304, about five miles out of Pocahontas.
Reports of low water areas in Pocahontas flooded as well as portions of Hwy. 115 and Happy Train in Randolph County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, July 2019
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: 839188, 839192, 839198.