Month reports are a new part of Weather Report.  These month reports will replace storm reports by describing all significant weather events during a month.  These should be more reliable and informative than the origional storm reports.  Month reports will be published at the end of each month.  For more month reports, click here.

October 

23+ Inches of Rain 

Unknown Number of Tornadoes

Summary

            Once again, Arkansas broke several rainfall records this month with some places picking up over 23 inches of rain.  There was also some severe weather, with at least 2 tornadoes reported.

          The month started out wet with several storm systems moving through the area between the 4th and the 15th.  A warm front moved through on the 4th, producing heavy rain, especially across the south.  This would warm up the state and set the stage for the next storm system. 

By the 8th, moisture was in abundance across Arkansas.  A major warm-up occurred that afternoon, bringing temperatures across the state into the 80’s and 90’s as a strong cold front moved out of the plains.  A slow moving squall line formed, dumping another several inches of rain across the state.  As the ground was already saturated from earlier rainfalls, much of the water had nowhere to go.  Heavy flooding occurred in low-lying areas and along bodies of water.  This would become common later in the month.  As the cold front moved south into more unstable conditions, strong storms developed; many producing damaging straight line winds.  Several trees were blown down in Calhoun County and there was some roof damage to the Hampton High School Gym.

Yet another storm system moved through the state on the 14th, producing heavy rain across the south and causing some slight flooding.  The weather calmed down briefly after the 15th.  High pressure moved over the state, keeping the skies clear and the wind calm.  This led to a freeze event on the 18th.  Temperatures across Arkansas dropped into the low 30’s.  Fayetteville reported the lowest temperature at 29 degrees.

The weather picked up again on the 21st as another cold front moved through the state.  Moisture increased ahead of the system, making this a very efficient rain maker.  Much of the state picked up 1 to 2 inches of rain with Prescott (Nevada County) receiving 4.62 inches.  Once again, flooding became a problem with the ground totally saturated.

The final storm system of the month proved to be the most potent.  On the 28th, a strong southerly flow developed pulling up a lot of moisture from the gulf.  By the 29th, moisture was in abundance over the state.  Outer rain bands from an approaching cold front developed across the state and were particularly strong in eastern parts of the state.  Afternoon heating occurred, making the atmosphere unstable.  As the cold front began to enter the state, strong storms developed, producing heavy rain and strong winds.  As the storms moved east, some became severe with damaging straight line winds.  A few supercells developed strong rotation and spawned tornadoes in Calhoun, Ouachita and Dallas Counties as well as Jefferson, Grant, Lonoke, and Pulaski Counties.  At this time, it is not clear how many tornadoes were spawned but there could have been as many as 12 different storms.  Rainfall totals across the state reached 1 to 4 inches of rain with a few places picking up over 5 inches.  These final amounts pushed October 2009 into the record books.

For much of the state, October 2009 went down as the wettest October on record.  Hot Springs officially picked up 13.3 inches this month, making October 2009 the wettest month since 1990 and the 3rd wettest month on record.  Pine Bluff received 14.34 inches making the 8th wettest month on record and North Little Rock had 15.81 inches breaking all previous monthly records since 1988.  Leola received the most rain with 23.05 inches, also making the wettest month on record.  (For more records, go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lzk/?n=pns103109txt.htm). 

As well as monthly records, many parts of Arkansas have already broken yearly rainfall records.  North Little Rock has a yearly total of 66.45 inches and Leola has a total of 87.07 inches for 2009.  Both of these amounts have already made 2009 the wettest year on record and there’s still two months to go!