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| Yearly Reports |
| Interested in what kind of weather occurred in a recent year? Check out the
most memorable events below. |
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Severe Weather in Apr 2006 (1st-3rd/Pg1) |
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April started off with a bang, with a stationary front
draped across the central third of the state on the 1st. Along the
front, thunderstorms produced hail to the size of tennis balls at Clarksville (Johnson County)
and
ping pong ball size hail at Caddo Valley (Clark County). Flooding was also reported along U.S. Highway 70 near Pearcy (Garland County).
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| In the picture: The WSR-88D (Doppler Weather Radar) showed scattered severe storms developing
across the central third of Arkansas at 515 pm CST on 04/01/2006. |
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The front moved back to the north early on the 2nd, with a new storm system and cold front
arriving later on the 2nd/early on the 3rd. Energy with this new front
mostly headed north of Arkansas.
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| In the picture:
Severe weather reports on 04/02/2006. The graphic is
courtesy of the Storm Prediction Center. |
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| With energy guided away from Arkansas, a severe weather
outbreak was expected mainly in areas north and east of the
region...including the mid-Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. While
this occurred,
Arkansas was not out of the woods.
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| At 12 pm CDT on the 2nd, nothing was happening yet. There
were lots of low clouds, and a layer of warm air (inversion) aloft which
capped the atmosphere. Moisture was also lacking, with a tremendous
amount of dry air overhead. If there were to be any storms, they would be
few. |
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| In the picture:
The sounding (temperature and dewpoint profile with height) at Little Rock
around 1 pm CDT on 04/02/2006...with an inversion around 850 mb (5000
ft) and lots of dry air aloft. Surface temperatures were in the mid 70s
with lots of low clouds (below the inversion). It would take readings in
the mid to upper 80s to overcome the inversion...and allow air parcels
to ascend to build storms. |
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By 3 pm CDT, clouds had broken up with temperatures
climbing. Readings warmed enough to overcome the inversion...and then
the flood gates opened. Air near the ground soared quickly skyward
(updrafts),
with storms building in a hurry. As expected, there were only three
storms of note...but they were huge! |
| In the picture:
The satellite picture showed two prominent supercells (storms with
rotating updrafts) in northeast Arkansas toward evening on 04/02/2006.
Another supercell (farther south) had tracked into Mississippi. |
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| In the picture:
Hail up to 5 inches in diameter fell about 2 miles north of
Searcy (White County) during the afternoon of 04/02/2006. The
picture is courtesy of Martha Benskin. Click
to enlarge. |
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| In the picture:
Tennis ball size hail was noted around Ozark Acres (Sharp
County) during the afternoon of 04/02/2006. The picture is
courtesy of Steve and Wanda Owen. Click to
enlarge. |
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| While the storms were building, moisture
within the updrafts evaporated initially as it encountered dry air
aloft. This created a cooling effect...making it easy for hail to form.
The updrafts suspended hailstones aloft, which allowed the stones to
grow. In the end, there were several instances where hail was larger
than 4 inches in diameter! |
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| There is more concerning the storms of
April 1st-3rd. To check out the rest of the story,
click here. |
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www.weather.gov
