Entering Our Secondary Severe Weather Season
It still surprises some people when we get severe weather in the fall and winter, but it's very common for this to happen. We call this time of year our "secondary severe weather season". However, there have been years when there are more tornadoes in the fall than in the spring.
I'll never forget the late November outbreak in 2005 when a tornado outbreak affected much of western and central Arkansas. Barry Brandt and I were on the air for hours and hours tracking those storms. Look at all the tornadoes that day. Again, this did not happen in spring! It was around Thanksgiving!
In November of 1983, Arkansas was playing SMU (if my memory serves me correctly) at War Memorial. We had a tornado warning in effect for Pulaski county during the game. I'll never forget the phone call from my dad after the twister struck his business. He said, "we're ruined". 1 month later, we had a major outbreak of cold air and ice on the ground for days around Christmas. My point, we can get some very wild weather this time of year and we all need to be weather aware.
This has not been updated in a few years, but it still drives home the point the number of tornadoes ramp up this time of year.
Yes, we're in a drought and will likely stay in a drought. We'll still get rain and we'll still get thunderstorms this fall and winter. While nothing severe is in the forecast at this time, this is just a reminder our weather will get active at some point and our primary concern is keeping you safe!