Thunderstorm Wind — Dallas, Arkansas

2019-05-18 · near Dalark, Dallas, Arkansas

Event narrative

Trees were down across Hwy. 7 and all lanes were temporarily blocked.

Wider weather episode

While it heated up, it was not dry everywhere on the 15th. Before the ridge of high pressure could get here, a stationary front was in place across northeast sections of the state. Surrounding the front, scattered thunderstorms popped up during the afternoon. Some of the storms became strong to severe.

Mainly hail occurred with the strongest storms. The largest stones were about the size of a lime (two inches in diameter), and were reported just southwest of Salado (Independence County) at 711 pm CDT. Quarter to golf ball size hail was produced at few miles west of Pocahontas (Randolph County), north of Huff, southwest of Batesville, and at Cushman (all in Independence County).

A few days later (on the 18th), a powerful storm system went from the southern Plains to the upper Midwest, with a cold front dragged into the region by the system. As the day began, storms were ongoing from Texas into Oklahoma. A line of storms eventually made it into western Arkansas by 200 pm CDT.

Just like on the 1st, part of the line bowed out (indicating the presence of strong to damaging winds) from Fort Smith (Sebastian County) to Clarksville (Johnson County). There was extensive tree damage, with trees on houses and blocking roads. Hardest hit areas inlcuded Paris and Scranton (both in Logan County). Gusts likely exceeded 90 mph.

Along the way, several photos showed a lot of dust kicked up by the wind. Gustnadoes or dust devils were also generated as the wind speed rapidly increased. There was a weak tornado (rated EF0) produced three miles west of Slovak (Prairie County). A couple of grain bins were dented or pushed in.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.0100, -92.8800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 825089. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.