Heavy rain brought flooding to parts of central and south Arkansas in mid May 2020.
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.
Heavy rain brought flooding to parts of central and south Arkansas in mid May 2020.
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 May 17, 3:44 AM CST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Little Rock AR 444 AM CDT Sun May 17 2020 .SHORT TERM...Today Through Monday Night Current regional mosaic radar imagery depicts a complex of showers and isolated thunderstorms spiraling around a compact but rather robust surface low invof ARKLATEXs. On the national scale, another broad surface low can be resolved over the Nrn plains. These two areas of low pressure where located beneath regions of shortwave troughing. Across the Nrn Rockies, an upper level ridge and surface high will slide SE during the day today. This will help bring precipitation to an end across the Srn CONUS from NW to SE. Locally, showers were spiraling counterclockwise around an area of low pressure centered near Texarkana. This activity is expected to increase in areal coverage today as daytime heating promotes additional development. The severe weather risk appears to be minimal at this time, however with the amount of spin associated with the surface and upper low, a few rotating showers or low topped supercells could produce a brief spin up tornado. This would mainly affect portions of Srn, SErn, and Ern AR. Excessive rainfall will be main story across the state today. Widespread amounts of one inch, possibly upwards of two inches could occur over already saturated soils. Where higher precipitation rates occur, flash flooding may develop, especially across portions of Wrn, C, and Srn AR. Across these areas, several inches of rain has already been observed over the last several days. The upper trough is expected to move east of the area this afternoon taking the surface low with it. As this happens, surface high pressure will move towards the region. Precipitation will come to an end on Monday with drier and cooler weather returning to the Natural State. High temperatures today are expected to reach the mid 70s to near 80 degrees. On Monday, highs will range from the upper 60s across the N to the lower 80s across the Srn AR. && .LONG TERM...Tuesday Through Saturday The main fcst highlight thru much of the PD wl be an upper lvl low that is fcst to cont working SWD thru the lower Ohio Valley and eventually meander ovr middle TN thru Thu. The system is fcst to begin shifting back to the N and eventually EWD later in the week. Several weak impulses wl rotate arnd the parent upr low early in the PD, bringing mainly an incrs in clouds to mainly the NE sections of the FA. Conds shld rmn rather benign late next week, with a warming trend as upper hgts begin to incrs ovr the region. Cant rule out a few showers/storms later in the week as low lvl moisture values begin to incrs. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Batesville AR 77 57 73 54 / 90 10 10 0 Camden AR 77 59 82 56 / 80 10 0 0 Harrison AR 74 52 69 50 / 50 10 10 0 Hot Springs AR 79 58 80 55 / 90 0 0 0 Little Rock AR 78 59 79 55 / 90 10 0 0 Monticello AR 78 61 81 58 / 90 30 0 0 Mount Ida AR 79 57 79 54 / 80 0 0 0 Mountain Home AR 76 54 68 51 / 90 10 10 0 Newport AR 78 57 73 55 / 90 30 10 0 Pine Bluff AR 78 60 80 57 / 90 20 0 0 Russellville AR 80 56 78 54 / 80 0 0 0 Searcy AR 78 57 76 54 / 90 20 0 0 Stuttgart AR 79 59 78 58 / 90 20 0 0 && .LZK Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Flash Flood Watch until 10 AM CDT this morning FOR Baxter-Boone- Cleburne-Conway-Faulkner-Fulton-Garland-Izard-Johnson-Lawrence- Logan-Marion-Newton-Perry-Pope-Randolph-Scott-Searcy-Sharp-Stone- Van Buren-Yell. Flash Flood Watch until 7 AM CDT this morning FOR Clark-Hot Spring-Montgomery-Ouachita-Pike-Polk. && Short Term...JONES / Long Term...44
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Little Rock AR 505 AM CDT Sun May 17 2020 ARZ003>008-012>017-021>025-030>034-037>047-052>057-062>069-181000- 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- 505 AM CDT Sun May 17 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for a Large Part of Arkansas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Showers and thunderstorms will continue through the afternoon hours. Organized severe weather is not anticipated today, however flash flooding could occur where storms move over the same locations. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday Through Saturday No hazardous weather is anticipated at this time. Drier weather will prevail through the remainder of the period. .Spotter Information Statement... Spotter activation will not be needed. && Visit NWS Little Rock on the web. Go to http://weather.gov/lzk.
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Little Rock AR 210 AM CDT Sun May 17 2020 ARZ044-045-170800- Pulaski AR-Lonoke AR- 210 AM CDT Sun May 17 2020 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN LONOKE AND NORTHEASTERN PULASKI COUNTIES UNTIL 300 AM CDT... At 210 AM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near Keo, or 10 miles south of Lonoke, moving north at 35 mph. Wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with this storm. Locations impacted include... Jacksonville... Cabot... Lonoke... Ward... England... Austin in Lonoke County... Keo... Old Austin... Parnell... Sisemore... Meto... Sylvania... South Bend... Toltec Mounds State Park... Bevis Corner... Toltec... Furlow... Butlerville... Woodlawn... Kerr... 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 3456 9184 3455 9205 3499 9210 3501 9184 TIME...MOT...LOC 0710Z 178DEG 30KT 3464 9195 44
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding developed in mid May on the Fourche LaFave River at Houston due to heavy rain.
Flooding developed in mid May on the Fourche LaFave River at Gravelly due to heavy rain.
Flooding developed in mid May on the Petit Jean River at Danville due to heavy rain.
Flooding developed in mid May on the Ouachita River at Arkadelphia due to heavy rain.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, May 2020
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: 887658, 887659, 887661, 887662.