Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Shreveport, LA

April 1, 1988McCurtain County, Oklahoma

NWS Shreveport, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 1, 1988, 2:44 PM CST for McCurtain County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 61 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 1, 1988, 2:44 PM CST (20:44 UTC)
Expired
Apr 1, 1988, 3:45 PM CST
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Shreveport, LA
Area
Whole counties

County McCurtain County, OK

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 197 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Longview/Gregg, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 49 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Longview/Gregg, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-04-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 173 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
49 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-181 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
794 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
240 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KSHV 012045
SVRSHV
OKC089-012145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
244 PM CST FRI APR 1 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
          ...MCCURTAIN
 
AT 242 PM CST THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN SHREVEPORT SHOWED
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPING 10 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF IDABEL
OKLAHOMA. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 1, 1:21 PM CST, 1 hour 23 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
115 PM CST FRI APR 1 1988

THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING RAPIDLY OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTH-
EAST TEXAS...SQUALL LINE EXPECTED TO FORM AND SPREAD EAST LATER.

STRONG AND POSSIBLE SEVERE STORMS WILL DEVELOP AND AFFECT NORTHEAST
TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA BY MID AFTERNOON AND EASTWARD ACROSS
THE REMAINDER OF THE ARKLATEX TONIGHT.

AT 115 PM CST THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN SHREVEPORT
SHOWED SCATTERED VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING FROM 40 MILES
NORTHWEST OF IDABEL OKLAHOMA TO NEAR HUGO ACROSS THE RED RIVER TO
NEAR SULPHUR SPRINGS TEXAS TO SOUTHWEST OF TYLER TO SOUTHWEST OF
PALESTINE TEXAS.

INITIALLY THESE cSTORMS WILL MOVE NORTH NORTHEAST..HOWEVER AN OLD SYSTEM
OVER NORTHCENTRAL TEXAS WAS MOVING EASTWARD AND AFTER MID AFTERNOON AN
OVERALL EASTWARD SHIFT ON THE NORTHEAST TEXAS STORMS WILL TAKE PLACE.
Special weather statement, Apr 1, 2:33 PM CST, 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
230 PM CST FRI APR 1 1988

TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA...AND MUCH OF SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS.

ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER EASTERN OKLAHOMA
..SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTHEAST TEXAS. A SQUALL
LINE IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP WITH ISOLATED STRONG STORMS DEVELOPING
AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A FEW OF THESE STORMS
WILL REACH SEVERE INTENSITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE AREA SHOULD KEEP
POSTED ON THE LATEST BULLETINS ISSUED BY AREA WEATHER OFFICES.

AT 230 PM CST THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN SHREVEPORT WAS
SHOWING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING RAPIDLY NORTH NORTHEAST SOUTHWEST
OF BATTIEST OKLAHOMA...SOUTHWEST OF IDABEL OKLAHOMA..BETWEEN LONGVIEW
TEXAS AND JEFFERSON AND FROM SOUTHWEST OF TYLER TO NORTHEAST OF
COLLEGE STATION.
.
THE STRONG STORMS APPOACHING IDABELL OKLAHOMA FROM THE SOUTHWEST
ARE INCREASING AT 2:30 PM AND MAY REACH SEVERE INTENSITY IN THE
NEXT HOUR.

INITIALLY THESE STORMS WILL MOVE NORTH NORTHEAST..HOWEVER AN OLD SYSTEM
OVER NORTHEAST TEXAS WAS MOVING SLOWLY EAST AND BY LATE AFTERNOON THE
STORMS OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTHEAST TEXAS WILL FORM INTO A
LINE AND A EASTWRD MOVEMENT OF THE NEW SYSTEM WILL TAKE PLACE.

THE STORM SYSTEM WILL SPREAD FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE ARKLATEX
TONIGHT WITH A FEW SEVERE STORMS..ALSO VERY HEAVY RAINFALL IN A SHORT
PERIOD OF TIME MAY RESULT IN LOCALIZED FLOODING.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oklahoma, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.