Tornado season in central Arkansas started last week with the possibility of the area’s first tornadoes of 2014. None developed, but that will surely change.
The National Weather Service’s Little Rock Weather Forecast Office reports this tornado season will be much like the one in 2013, stating in its Spring 2014 Outlook that “the severe weather season will be slow to materialize, and the window of opportunity for tornado outbreaks will be narrow (April/May). In 2013, the most significant event by far held off until late May,” when there were 14 tornadoes counted in the Little Rock Warning Area on May 30-31.
Looking beyond spring, the office reports “a weak El Niño (warmer than normal water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean) may materialize,” and temperatures this summer should not be like the summers of 2010 through 2012, which were among the top 15 hottest on record in the state. Maybe the summer of 2014 won’t be as pleasurable as the summer of 2013 when it comes to temperatures (the average summer temperature was 77.7 degrees in 2013, which was the 98th warmest summer on record), but the office states “long stretches of sweltering heat are not on the menu at this time.”
But let’s worry about summer in a few weeks. Right now, we are in the middle of peak tornado season (typically March through May). Here’s a look back at tornadoes in Arkansas over the past five years.