Flash Flood — Nevada, Arkansas

2024-12-16 · near Prescott, Nevada, Arkansas

Event narrative

Flash flooding with high water covering several roads in the city of Prescott.

Wider weather episode

A slowly advancing cold front across Southern Arkansas continued moving southward late into the evening on December 16th. Concurrently, warm sector southerly flow provided weak but sufficient surface convergence just ahead of the cold front. Strong convection with some weak QLCS features generally trained along the boundary/deep-layer moisture interface and was fed upstream by a sector of 1000-1250 J/kg of MUCAPE. Rainfall rates of 1.5-1.75/hour occurred, given the environment of deep moisture and unstable air with training profiles allowing for streaks of 2-3 inch totals. While soil conditions were fairly dry and generally receptible, they had become quite dormant and rainfall rates were sufficient for localized pooling and excessive run-off. As a result, a few isolated instances of flash flooding were reported across parts of Southwest Arkansas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.8000, -93.3800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1228047. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.