Noon Sunday Update...The National Weather Service has placed a preliminary rating of EF3 in Stuttgart.  This means the winds were in the range of 136-165 mph.

I thought it would be interesting for you to know what's going on behind the scenes of a severe weather outbreak.  We have had so many days where we must stay on the air for hours to keep Arkansans informed and safe.

The coordination between our news and weather starts hours before the onset of a severe outbreak.  We make sure photographers, reporters, editors, and assignment personnel are on stand-by ready to come in at a moments notice.  We also keep an engineer close by just in case gremlins get into our weather equipment.  Fortunately this year, we haven't had many issues with our computers and they have held up just fine.

Barry, Ned, Melinda, and I are keeping up with the changing conditions and on the phone with each other working out our plans for any continuous coverage.  I'll take Saturday, May 10th as an example of what went down.

The first tornado watch was issued late in the morning.  At that time, we staff our weather center and keep production staff at the station ready to go on the air at a moments notice.  Ned came in around noon and at that point it was just a matter of waiting for the storms to pop.  We watched the radar and made further plans for any coverage.  Since we can't leave the station, getting something to eat isn't easy.  Thankfully, my wife Andria brought in some food. 

As expected, the storms really began to grow late in the afternoon.  Ned and I started our continuous coverage shortly after 6 PM with a confirmed tornado on the ground near Jonesboro.  Several minutes later, we looked at the radar and noticed rotation near Damascus in Van Buren county.  There was not a tornado warning in effect, but Ned and I thought it would be a good idea and get on the air and stay ahead of the storms and get people to safety.  About 3 minutes after getting back on the air, a tornado warning was issued for that storm. 

Then the storms near central Arkansas began to rotate and storm chaser, Andy Rice, was on the storm streaming live video back to the station along I-30.  We took his video several times and talked to him on the phone.  Andy telling and showing us that nothing was coming out of the storm was very important.  Knowing what's going on is a great comfort to our viewers.  A few minutes later, meteorologist Barry Brandt arrives and starts checking information and pictures you are sending us.  We also have a chat room set up with the National Weather Service.  Barry was monitoring that and feeding us information.  As the storm approached Stuttgart, we realized one of the most well known storm chasers in the country, Jeff Patrowski, was just west of Stuttgart.  We have his cell phone number so Barry called him.  He confirmed the tornado on the ground and told us it was just a few minutes away from hitting the town.  A tornado warning was already in effect for Arkansas county, but we decided to take it a step further to convey the urgency of the situation.  We declared a tornado emergency for Stuttgart.  Hopefully, that saved lives and prevented injuries.  Our news staff sent Jessica Dean and a crew immediately and that's how we had the first video on the air from Stuttgart.  The storm continued to produce a tornado as it went east and into Mississippi.

At that point, the storms began to settle down and we went back to regular programing.

During an outbreak, there's so much information flying around that it takes more than one meteorologist to get it, check e-mails, the chat room, and communicate with our news department.    We have been doing this way too often this spring and hopefully it will settle down soon.  As you, our loyal viewers, watch our coverage we want you to know there are dozens of other people behind the scenes making it all happen.  We hope those efforts keep you informed and prevent anyone from getting hurt or killed.

Here we go again.  The Storm Prediction Center has placed much of Arkansas under a moderate risk for severe weather Saturday afternoon and night.  A strong storm system will develop across the plains.  A great deal of instability should develop ahead of this feature as it taps into very warm and moist conditions here at the surface.  The main threat right now will be very large hail, high winds, and unfortunately, there's the possibility of tornadoes. 

As we have asked you several times already this year, review your severe weather safety plans today.  Saturday afternoon and evening may turn out to be very active.  Since it's the weekend, many of you will have plans outdoors.  Please keep up with the latest information here on Channel 7.  You can still sign up for Weather Call 7 and it works immediately.

7 PM Monday Update... EF1 tornado damage has been found in Prairie county just north of I-40.  This brings the total number of tornadoes to 11.

1 PM Update Monday... EF1 tornado damage was found in Howard county in southwest Arkansas.  The tornado tracked near Umpire with a track of about 4 miles long.  This will bring the total number of tornadoes to 10 now.

9 PM Sunday Update...The tornado which affect Carlise has been rated an EF1.  Two other small tornadoes have been confirmed...  one north of Brinkley and another near Cotton Plant.  Both of those were rated an EF0.  This brings the total statewide to 9 tornadoes.

9:30 AM Sunday Update...  More tornado tracks were found late Saturday.   In Chicot county, an EF1 tornado tracked from 7 miles WNW of Lake Village to 10 miles north of Lake Village.  The 400 yard wide tornado tracked for 10 miles with winds estimated at 110 mph.  No injuries reported

 An EF2 tornado has been confirmed in western Mississippi county.  The 4 mile long path began south of Etowah and continues northeast to near Carrolls Corner.  The 150 yard wide tornado had winds up to 150 mph.

An EF3 tornado has been confirmed in northern Crittenden county.  It produced a continuous 12 mile long path of destruction which affected the communities of Earle, Heafer, Gilmore, and Turrell.  The tornado reached its peak intensity in Earle where it produced winds of  155-165 mph.  4 injuries were reported here.

6 PM Saturday Update... The tornado that tracked from near Birdtown to Brownsville north of Greers Ferry Lake in Cleburne county is rated an EF3 with a track of about 45 miles.

Also, the tornado from near Leola to near Crossroads in Grant county is rated an EF2.

Another tornado near Belfast to Hensley in Pulaski county to near Pettus in Lonoke county has been rated a strong EF2.  The track of this tornado is about 40 miles long.

6:30 Update...The National Weather Service has placed a preliminary rating of EF3 on the tornado that tracked from Birdtown in Conway county to Damascus in Van Buren county.

6 PM Friday Update...  No doubt about it, it was a very sad day.  Several of our fellow Arkansans lost their life.  I know that in the days to come though, this state will do what it always has done and always will do...come together and rebuild.   We'll take the lessons of today and apply them to tomorrow and hope we can get people to safety faster.

We'll continue to follow the survey work of the National Weather Service over the next few days as teams fan out through the state.  There will be many tornadoes confirmed and some very, very strong.  Below are pictures from Keo along Highway 15 from Lewis Morris

Monday Update...The new web content is up and running so check it out.  We have had many request a more localized radar, watch/warning maps, and state temperatures on our web site.  Also the ability to loop radar was a highly requested feature.  Now, it's ALL on there!  Again, if you have any suggestions on what YOU want to see or any comments on how Weather Call 7 is working for you, please leave a comment below.

This project has been in the works for the past few months with intense training the past two weeks on our new weather graphics system.  No weather graphic system in Little Rock television shows you the weather like this does.  Some of the features include virtual earth, 3D, and a product called metrovision.  Virtual earth allows us to zoom into any location in the country right down to the city street.  The mapping is high resolution down to 1 meter.  You will also notice our exclusive model, "Futurecast" is now in 3D.  Another new feature is called metrovision.  This will actually show you what we think the weather will look like tonight and tomorrow.  The graphics look incredible and  when you see it, I think you will agree.

So what does this mean to you as a viewer?   We believe this new system allows us to tell you the "weather story"  better than ever before.  We have worked hard to give you the things you have asked for. 

Below is an example of virtual earth of Downtown Little Rock.  It shows you how nice the high resolution mapping is.

This is where your help is needed.  We want your comments and suggestions about Futurecast 3D.  Also, we have signed up thousands for WeatherCall 7.  With all the severe weather we have had lately, how has it worked for you?  Leave a post below. 

5 PM Tuesday Update... I broke down and turned mine on Monday.  It got into the mid 80s today and that A.C. felt great. 

On another note, we have something new to show you Wednesday on Live at 5.  We have been working hard on it and I'll post more about it Wednesday.   This has been one of the reasons that I have not been posting much lately.  Stay tuned, your thoughts will be asked for. 

A friend of mine who lives on Signal Mountain, TN inspired me for this blog entry.  He would wait as long as possible before turning on the air in his house.  I think one year he made it all the way until Memorial Day before he broke down and had to chill his home.

So with temperatures pushing 80 degrees over the next few days my question is... have you turned on your air and how long are you willing to wait? I want to wait as long as possible before those high electric bills arrive.

Leave a comment below and we'll post the good ones. 

I would rather blog about this than have to talk more about severe weather or flooding.

Please keep the comments coming.  I do not have the ability to post them right now, but they will be within the next couple of days.

Thursday AM Update...  Viewer comment... "Could the increase be due to better ability to identify tornado tracks in areas where we've not had a sighting confirmation? It seems like I've read and heard a lot more in the last couple of years about damage surveys that confirmed tornadoes." 

It's very likely that over the past couple of decades, there has been an increase in the number of tornado reports do to awareness and ability to easily share information.  It's a great question. 

Last week we looked at the number of tornadoes since January 2000 and determined that Arkansas has had significantly more than our neighbors in Oklahoma.  The count so far this year is already above our yearly average. 

There is some new information regarding the April 3rd central Arkansas tornadoes.  The survey team identified two more tracks Sunday bringing the total number of tornadoes from that one day to 12.  Those tracks were in White and Lonoke counties and both were rated EF1.  During that one night, over about a two hour period of time, we received almost half of our yearly average of twisters.

It's only the middle of April and the chances are this will only grow as we are still in our primary severe weather season.  We have a secondary peak in fall.  Lets hope the rest of the year is uneventful.

It's looking more and more likely that many areas of western and northern Arkansas will experience freezing temperatures tonight.  Winds may hold up enough to prevent a widespread frost, but Monday night into Tuesday morning may be a different story.  As high pressure settles on top of us at that time, temperatures will drop and winds should lighten up.  This may bring more widespread areas of frost.  You may remember what the late season freeze did to crops across the state last year.  It was devastating.  I don't think it will be quite as cold as last year, but may be enough to do some damage.  We'll just have to wait and see.  The map below is a freeze warning in the pink.  A frost advisory in blue.  This is in effect Sunday night into Monday morning.

We have seen an unbelievable amount of rainfall since the beginning of March.  Take a look at these records provided to us from the National Weather Service.

Marshall  26.96 inches

Gilbert 26.24 inches

Mtn. Home 23.57 inches

Calico Rock 22.87 inches

Salem 22.33 inches

Lead Hill 18.33 inches

At least we are now getting a break for several days to dry out.  White River levels continue to rise on the lower part of the basin.  Here's a look at some information on those levels and when they will crest.  The information below is subject to change.

The National Weather Service confirms a tornado that tracked from 5.5 miles northwest of Sheridan in Grant county to 3.4 miles south of East End in Saline county.  It has been rated an EF1 so far with damage to a barn, cattle shed, and a small structure at a cemetery under which mourners could gather.  Also, four cows and a donkey were killed.  Numerous trees were blown down or snapped off. 

Survey work will continue in the area affected and we'll have the latest information here.

Flooding will be a concern for the next several days along rivers.  The second image is doppler radar estimated rainfall over the last few days.