ARKANSAS, USA — Following warm and windy weather at the beginning of the week, severe thunderstorms are anticipated to hit Arkansas and Oklahoma on Thursday afternoon, March 14.
The 5NEWS Weather Team is categorizing Thursday, March 14, as a Red Weather Alert Day, which signifies a very legitimate severe weather threat in our area. The severe weather is projected to occur from around 2 p.m. to midnight.
Hail, strong winds, and even an isolated tornado are expected to come to the River Valley and the Northwest Arkansas region. Here are all the counties that have issued issued warnings so far.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), Johnson County is under a tornado watch until 9 p.m.
A tornado watch has also been issued for Logan, Pope, Scott, and Yell counties until midnight.
Severe thunderstorm warnings:
- Franklin and Sebastian counties until 8:45 p.m.
Flash flood warnings
- LeFlore and Sequoyah counties until 10:00 p.m.
Areal flood advisory
- Crawford, Washington, Adair and Sequoyah counties until 10 p.m.
The Fort Smith Police Department (FSPD) asked residents to avoid the following areas in the city due to flooding risks:
- N. 10/ N. B
- Mill Creek area on PHOENIX (1200-1400 BLOCK)
- Towson/ Fresno
- Wheeler/ S. E
- Wheeler/ S. B from Towson
- Grand/ N. 16
- Skywood/ N. 50
At 1:52 p.m., a severe thunderstorm was found on the radar near Jay, Oklahoma, moving northeast at 45 mph. The NWS calls this a destructive storm with baseball-sized hail and wind gusts up to 60 mph.
From 2:15 to 2:30 p.m., Gravette and Sulphur Springs residents reported large hail. Sulphur Springs reported seeing 4-inch, grapefruit-sized hail. Gravette reported seeing 2.75-inch, baseball-sized hail.
Around 3:30 p.m., FSPD reported that a tornado siren in the city was not working due to mechanical issues. The siren is located at the corner of Tennessee Circle and Old Highway 71. FSPD encouraged residents to closely monitor the changing severe weather until the siren is repaired.
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