Hey Fort Smith — the heat advisory is finally done for tonight, but tomorrow we’ve got a different weather problem to keep an eye on.
The National Weather Service in Tulsa updated its outlook Tuesday evening and says isolated thunderstorms could turn strong to severe across western Arkansas Wednesday afternoon into Wednesday evening.
Fort Smith, Van Buren and the surrounding River Valley are right in the area being watched, with forecasters showing a Marginal to Slight Risk for severe storms across portions of western Arkansas.
The biggest concern is wind. The National Weather Service says the stronger storms could produce locally damaging wind gusts up to around 70 mph. Some hail is possible too.
Before anybody reads “severe weather” and starts thinking tornado outbreak — that’s not what the forecast is saying right now. There is no severe thunderstorm warning for Fort Smith Tuesday night, and there’s no guarantee every neighborhood even gets a storm Wednesday.
Fort Smith’s current point forecast only shows around a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday, mainly later in the afternoon. The problem is that if a storm does get going in the right environment, it could get strong pretty fast.
So tomorrow isn’t really a “cancel everything” kind of forecast. It’s more of a keep your phone nearby and check radar before heading outside kind of day.
The timing looks most interesting during the afternoon and evening hours Wednesday. If you’ve got kids at practice, outdoor jobs, deliveries, errands, county fair plans or anything else keeping you outside later in the day, that’s when you’ll want to pay a little more attention.
And around here, damaging straight-line wind deserves more respect than it usually gets. We’ve already watched strong storms knock down trees and power lines across Crawford and Sebastian counties this month.
You don’t need a tornado for a storm to tear stuff up. A 60 or 70 mph wind gust can drop limbs, knock trees onto power lines, throw unsecured patio furniture around and cause scattered outages.
If you’ve still got loose stuff outside from summer — umbrellas, lightweight furniture, canopies, trash cans or anything else that catches wind — it wouldn’t hurt to secure it before tomorrow afternoon instead of waiting until the sky turns black.
For anyone driving when storms roll through, the bigger issue may be a quick blast of wind and heavy rain. Visibility can go from perfectly fine to barely seeing the car in front of you in a matter of minutes inside one of these stronger cells.
The weather pattern should calm down a little afterward. The National Weather Service currently shows no major hazards Thursday or Friday, with temperatures coming down closer to normal behind the boundary.
Don’t get too comfortable though — the heat looks like it wants to come right back for the weekend into early next week.
So yeah, River Valley weather doing River Valley weather. We just came out of another heat advisory, we get a storm chance tomorrow, then we cool off for a couple days before the heat starts creeping back in.
Community takeaway: Wednesday isn’t automatically going to be a bad weather day, but the storms that develop could pack a punch. The National Weather Service says western Arkansas could see a few strong to severe storms Wednesday afternoon and evening, with damaging winds up to around 70 mph the main concern and hail possible. Keep radar nearby, leave weather alerts turned on and don’t wait until the wind starts blowing to secure the loose stuff outside.
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Sources: National Weather Service Tulsa — Hazardous Weather Outlook · National Weather Service Tulsa — Latest Forecast
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