Storms from a large system that spawned a deadly Oklahoma tornado raked Arkansas on Monday evening and Tuesday, killing a Prairie Grove man in Springdale.
Austin Deere, 19, was killed about 7:30 p.m. Monday, when 70-mph winds blew a Springdale street sign off a pole and through the windshield of his car while he was driving on U.S. 412 and South Powell Street, said Lt. Derek Hudson, a spokesman for the Springdale Police Department.
The sign shattered the windshield and struck Deere in the neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene,said Springdale Assistant Fire Chief Kevin McDonald.
The National Weather Service in Tulsa reported a possible tornado Monday evening near Siloam Springs in Benton County. Spotters also reported seeing a funnel cloud over a rural area of Carroll County on Monday evening. Meteorologist Pete Snyder said he didn’t expect a damage survey team to travel to Arkansas, however.
More than 2.5 inches of rain fell in Fayetteville on Monday evening, said Washington County Office of Emergency Services coordinator John Luther. High winds toppled trees and damaged a building out in the county, he said.
A search team found a missing hiker after a three-hour search along the trails at Devil’s Den State Park near West Fork early Tuesday morning, he said.
“The hiker apparently became disoriented when the storm hit and got lost,” Luther said.
Luther lauded the implementation of the Code Red program in Benton County for warning people of the approaching storm Monday evening. In April of 2012, the county joined the program, which notifies people with automated telephone calls of any eminent danger. Luther said people were given 15-20 minutes advance warning of the storm and were able to seek shelter.
On Tuesday, heavy rain fell across much of the state, and the National Weather Service issued at least three tornado warnings. However, there were no confirmed tornado touchdowns, meteorologists said.
The system formed in Oklahoma on Monday as moist air from the Gulf of Mexico clashed with cold air from the west. A large tornado with wind speeds topping 210 mph struck Moore, Okla., a suburb of Oklahoma City, on Monday afternoon, killing at least 24 people.
The weather system pushed into Arkansas that evening. Officials recorded winds of 60-70 mph in the northwest corner of the state.
A second round of storms crossed the state Tuesday, but because cloud cover and rain kept the temperatures lower, there was not a lot of heat to fuel the storms and they were mostly minor, said National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Dalton.
“The storms last night [Monday] helped work the atmosphere over, and it stabilized things,” he said. “More storms could have fired up if there was more heat. The rain and clouds were a saving grace.
“There were plenty of ingredients available to create problems, but the cooler temperatures kept things limited,” he said.
The remnants of the storm were expected to leave the state by early morning today, and temperatures were forecast to climb into the upper 70 and lower 80s for the rest of the week, Dalton said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 05/22/2013