Short Weather Summary

It was cold to start February, with widespread light snow on the 1st. Some light icing followed on the 9th across central sections of the state. The pattern then changed, with warmer conditions and severe thunderstorms. Several tornadoes were spawned on the 24th in southeast Arkansas. Even with all of the active weather, the month finished with below normal precipitation.

Record Temperatures

Record low temperatures were confined to North Little Rock (Pulaski County) in mid-February. The records occurred at the end of a cold period, with warmer weather to follow. Check the records below...

Site	Record Low (Date of Occurrence)
North Little Rock	24T (02/14), 22T (02/15), 16 (02/16)
Note: "T" means record was tied.

A Cold Start

The Polar Jet (northwest wind flow aloft) was active during the first half of the month, with storm systems driven toward Arkansas from Canada. The systems generally did not have much moisture, but there was enough to produce 1 to 3 inches of snow across northern and central sections of the state from January 31st into February 1st.

	On the 9th, there were only trace amounts of precipitation across central Arkansas...but it was in the form of freezing rain. It was too warm aloft to support snow, and a thin glaze of ice caused numerous accidents from Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Searcy (White County) to West Memphis (Crittenden County).
In the picture: During Winter, the focus is on the Polar Jet and the Subtropical Jet.

Air Temperatures at North Little Rock (6 am CST on 02/09/2007)
Height (ft)	Temperature (deg. F)
Ground	28.2
672	27.8
1936	23.9
3369	24.1
3786	26.4
4481	31.6
5246	40.1
7657	32.4
9695	25.0
In the table: Temperatures aloft were above 32 degrees from roughly 4500 feet to 7700 feet at North Little Rock (Pulaski County) on 02/09/2007. Very light snow fell through this warm layer, with freezing rain resulting.

Links of Interest

January 31 - February 1, 2007 (light snow)

February 9, 2007 (icing)

Getting Warmer/Heavy Rain

By the 13th, there were signs that the Subtropical Jet (southwest wind flow aloft) was ready to take over...with warmer air and more moisture briefly surging into the region. A storm system arrived from the southern Plains and tapped into the moisture. The led to heavy rain in northern and western Arkansas.
In the picture: Twenty four hour rainfall as of 6 am CST on 02/13/2007.

Rainfall amounts in these areas were generally between one and two inches...with locally up to three inches. Twenty four hour amounts as of 6 am CST on the 13th included 2.17 inches at Fort Smith (Sebastian County), 1.91 inches at Harrison (Boone County), 1.88 inches at Russellville (Pope County) and 1.83 inches at Mountain Home (Baxter County).

Link of Interest

February 12-13, 2007 (heavy rain)

A Warm End/Severe Storms

The door to Canada was pretty much closed to end February, with the weather more like Spring. On the 24th, it was evident that the first severe weather outbreak of the year was set to unfold...and it did.

	Five tornadoes were spawned in southeast Arkansas, with the worst damage at Dumas (Desha County). Fortunately, there were no fatalities...but 27 people were injured.
In the picture: Five tornadoes were identified in southeast Arkansas from storms on 02/24/2007.

Link of Interest

February 24, 2007 (severe weather)