Thunderstorm Wind — Grant, Arkansas

2022-05-15 · near Sheridan, Grant, Arkansas

Event narrative

Local officials reported numerous trees and power lines down across Grant County. A tree was knocked over, blocking Hwy. 46 North in Sheridan, and ARDOT and Sheridan fire dept. were dispatched to clear the road.

Wider weather episode

For much of the state, May 13th was the end of the heatwave as a cold front moved into the area and showers and thunderstorms developed. Thunderstorms were most widespread on the 15th with several reports of hail as large as golf balls and numerous wind damage reports. A wind gust of 58 mph was recorded at the Jacksonville/LR Air Force Base.

Some relief (cooler air) came on the 15th in the form of a cold front. At the same time, there were strong to severe storms ahead of the front. Storms were sure to thrive given an enormous amount of energy in place. Models showed a line of storms traversing the region from northwest to southeast during the afternoon, and these were expected to unleash strong to damaging winds. Updrafts into some storms were likely to be powerful enough to suspend hailstones aloft, and allow them to grow. So, very large hail was possible. There were already a few hailstorms on the 14th, with lime size hail at Jasper (Newton County), and golf ball size hail at Harrison (Boone County). Tornadoes were much less likely because steering winds were generally weak (30 knots or less), and there was not much shear.

Between 1100 am and 1200 pm CST, a large cluster of storms arrived from Missouri. Ahead of the cluster, isolated to scattered storms erupted mainly north and west of Little Rock (Pulaski County). Golf ball size hail was reported at Boxley (Newton County) and the west side of Russellville (Pope County). There was half dollar size hail at London and just north of Russellville (both in Pope County), and quarter size stones at Chickalah (Yell County), Nimrod (Perry County), and Paris (Logan County).

As the afternoon progressed, the cluster of storms worked from northwest into central and southeast Arkansas. Numerous trees and power lines were downed, with some trees on houses. At least 50,000 power outages were noted at one point. At Russellville (Pope County), a tree fell on a vehicle, and two people had to be extricated and taken to the hospital. A tree also came down on a travel trailer close to Hazen (Prairie County). Fallen trees blocked Highway 7 near Fourche Junction (Perry County), Highway 46 at Sheridan (Grant County), and Highway 54 at Sulphur Springs (Jefferson County). Roads were blocked by trees at a campground northeast of Fifty Six (Stone County). A roof was blown off of a storage building west of Hot Springs (Garland County).

There was a 58 mph gust at the Little Rock Air Force Base (Pulaski County), a 56 mph gust at McCreanor (Lonoke County), a 55 mph gust at Little Rock National Airport (Pulaski County), and a 54 mph gust at the Stuttgart Airport in Fairmount (Prairie County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3200, -92.3800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1031006. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.