Flash Flood — Lafayette, Arkansas

2024-03-15 · near Bradley, Lafayette, Arkansas

Event narrative

Numerous county roads in the southern part of Lafayette County were flooded and closed.

Wider weather episode

Strong and deep convection became widespread over the Ark-La-Tex and downstream portions of southern Arkansas on March 15th. This occurred along an outflow boundary on the southwestern flank of a decaying MCS, and a favorable environment encouraged increased training over several hours. The mesoscale environment was characterized by ML CAPE of 1000-2000 J/kg, PWATs of 1.5-1.8 inches, and deep layer shear of 30-50 knots. In addition, a highly favorable coupled overlap of 850 mb convergence and 250 mb divergence helped to maintain deep convection. Convection trained from southwest to northeast, resulting in numerous reports of flash flooding across much of the Ark-La-Tex region with rainfall totals exceeding five inches in some areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1000, -93.6500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1171048. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.