Another round of severe storms is expected to begin Friday afternoon in Arkansas and could last through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service in Little Rock.
Meteorologist Justin Condry says the western part of the state can expect severe weather to begin around 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, gradually moving east through the evening and overnight. Heavier storms are expected in Little Rock beginning around 6 to 8 p.m.
“That will include tornados, damaging winds, and possibly large hail,” Condry told Little Rock Public Radio on Friday. “We’re expecting heavy rain after that severe threat diminishes, right now a swath from southeastern to northeastern Arkansas could see anywhere from 8 to 10 inches.”
As of 1 p.m. Friday, the National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch in multiple Arkansas counties until 9 p.m., including Pulaski, Faulkner, Saline, and Jefferson.
Little Rock may see around six to eight inches of additional rainfall, which Condry notes is on top of the precipitation from the last few days.
Condry says flooding is likely with this level of rainfall over a short period of time.
“There’s just nowhere for the water to go,” he said. “We’ve already had heavy rain the last couple of days. It's kind of like if you take a sponge and you wet it, that’s kind of what the ground does, [...] if you add more water to that already wet sponge, well it’s got to go somewhere and usually it runs off and that runoff is that flooding.”
Little Rock and surrounding areas remain under a flood watch until 7 a.m. Sunday, April 6.
Condry said it’s important to heed any road closures and avoid driving through flooded roadways.
“It doesn’t take much to sweep a car away or sweep a person away.”
In regards to tornado safety, Condry says it’s important to take steps to prepare for severe weather as soon as possible.
“Have a safety plan in place, know where you’re going to go. If you have a storm shelter make sure that’s cleared out for you and your family because you don’t tend to have a lot of time in case a tornado warning is posted.”
“If you don’t have a tornado shelter the lowest part of your house is the safest spot. So if you have a basement you would want to go in there, if you don’t have a basement the most interior low level room in your house, so for a lot of people that would be maybe a pantry, an interior closet, a bathroom. Go in there and make sure you don’t have any windows in those rooms.”
Condry suggests wearing bicycle or sports helmets and bringing blankets, pillows, and other bedding into the shelter to create an extra cushion of protection.
If a tornado watch is upgraded to a warning, Condry recommends people resist the temptation to go outside to watch the storm.
“The important thing is when we issue that tornado warning we’re trying to say there’s a really good possibility that there’s a tornado associated with that storm.” Condry said. “So you want to go ahead and get to your safe spot and hunker down until the coast is clear, not necessarily go outside.”
The latest updates can be found on the NWS Little Rock website, on X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook.
