Skip Navigation Linkswww.weather.gov
NOAA logo - Click to go to the NOAA homepage National Weather Service Forecast Office   NWS logo - Click to go to the NWS homepage
WFO Little Rock, Arkansas
Home News Organization  
 
Monthly Storm Reports and Storm Data
Storm Reports
Are you interested in what happened during a recent event? Check out the report below.
Heavy Rain/Severe Weather on April 3-4, 2008 (Pg2)
 
The WSR-88D (Doppler Weather Radar) indicated rotation over Burns Park (Pulaski County) at 1002 pm CDT on 04/03/2008. In the Little Rock (Pulaski County) area...cars were flipped, structures were damaged and trees and power lines were downed 6 miles west of town. This included the Cammack Village (Pulaski County) area.
In the picture: The WSR-88D (Doppler Weather Radar) indicated rotation over Burns Park (Pulaski County) at 1002 pm CDT on 04/03/2008. "RDA" is the "Radar Data Acquisition" tower across the street from the National Weather Service office.

 

Farther northeast, hangers were destroyed and planes were tossed at the North Little Rock Airport (Pulaski County). The National Weather Service office was directly affected, with several employees briefly seeking shelter. A 64 mph gust was measured at the facility. 

 

 

Strong winds then ripped through nearby Sylvan Hills and Gravel Ridge (both in Pulaski County) before the parent storm moved into the Cabot (Lonoke County) area.

Before the storm spawned tornadoes, it was mainly a hail producer. It brought golfball size hail to Bonnerdale (Hot Spring County), with quarter size hail at Hot Springs (Garland County).    

 

The satellite showed thunderstorms aligned from northeast through central and west central Arkansas at 1200 am CDT on 04/04/2008.
In the picture: The satellite showed thunderstorms aligned from northeast through central and west central Arkansas at 1200 am CDT on 04/04/2008.
The alignment did not change much by 415 am CDT...leading to heavy to excessive rain.
In the picture: The alignment did not change much by 415 am CDT...leading to heavy to excessive rain.
During the early morning hours of the 4th, it became a heavy rain event. The front in northern Arkansas shifted slowly to the south, with persistent rain from west central into central and northeast sections of the state. Widespread two to three inch amounts were measured, with locally more.

 

At Glenwood (Pike County), 6.44 inches of rain fell, with 5.87 inches at Bonnerdale (Hot Spring County), 5.10 inches at Amity (Clark County), 4.80 inches at Hopper (Montgomery County) and 4.72 inches at Malvern (Hot Spring County). Twenty four hour rainfall through 7 am CDT on 04/04/2008.
In the picture: Twenty four hour rainfall through 7 am CDT on 04/04/2008.

 

This much rain triggered widespread flash flooding, with a number of roads flooded. Even Interstate 30 at Benton and Bryant (both in Saline County) were partially covered by high water for a time.

 

Damage Surveys/Pictures
Ten tornadoes were counted in Pulaski, Saline, Lonoke and White Counties. The National Weather Service surveyed damage in Saline, Pulaski, Lonoke and White Counties to determine how many tornadoes were spawned...and to rate the tornadoes (using the EF scale).
In the picture: Ten tornadoes were counted in Pulaski, Saline, Lonoke and White Counties.

 

Ten tornadoes affected these counties...nine of which were produced by one parent storm. One of the tornadoes (near Floyd in White County) was the result of a storm later in the evening.

 

Yet another storm caused additional damage in Hot Spring and Garland Counties, with two more tornadoes noted. Two tornadoes occurred in Garland and Hot Spring Counties.
In the picture: Two tornadoes occurred in Garland and Hot Spring Counties.

 

Links of Interest
Survey Information (Saline County)
Survey Information (Pulaski County)
Survey Information (Lonoke/White Counties)
Survey Information (Hot Spring/Garland Counties)
Damage Photos
More on the Enhanced Fujita Scale

 

Coordinate Files of Tornadoes
Where exactly did the tornadoes track? Several teams from the National Weather Service obtained data on the road (ground surveys) and through interviews with people in affected areas.

A KMZ (compressed KML) file has been constructed using points visited by the teams. The points were plotted using mapping software. Shapefiles (ZIP file) are available as well.

 

Links of Interest
Coordinate Files of Tornado Tracks: KMZ | ZIP
Note: These files are for use with GIS software. The "KMZ" (compressed "KML") file is intended for applications such as Google Earth. The "ZIP" file contains several shapefiles for applications such as ArcView. Right click on the link(s) of your choice and "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" to your computer. View using the appropriate application(s).

 

Storm Reports
Preliminary reports of severe weather and flash flooding in the Little Rock County Warning Area on April 3-4, 2008 (in red).
Submit a storm report.
There were scattered severe storms with tornadoes, and widespread flash flooding on April 3rd and 4th. For a look at some reports, click here.
In the picture: Preliminary reports of severe weather and flash flooding in the Little Rock County Warning Area on April 3-4, 2008 (in red).
 

 

National Weather Service
Little Rock Weather Forecast Office
Page last modified: 14 April, 2008
Disclaimer

Credits

Glossary
Privacy Policy

About Our Organization

Career Opportunities