Alert archive / Oklahoma / Flash Flood Warnings in 1994

Flash Flood Warning 16, NWS Tulsa, OK

July 12, 1994Pawnee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this flash flood warning at Jul 12, 1994, 7:15 PM CDT for Pawnee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 12, 1994, 7:15 PM CDT (00:15 UTC)
Expired
Jul 12, 1994, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Tulsa, OK
Area
Whole counties

County Pawnee County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:16 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 137 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1994-07-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3155 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1994-07-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 35 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
3155 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
910 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUL 130015 COR
FFWTUL
OKC117-130315-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTED FOR DATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
715 PM CDT TUE JUL 12 1994

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA

   ...EASTERN PAWNEE COUNTY

A SLOW MOVING BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS HAS DUMPED VERY HEAVY RAINS OVER
EASTERN PAWNEE COUNTY EARLY THIS EVENING. RADAR ESTIMATES OF AROUND 3
INCHES OF RAIN HAVE BEEN INDICATED ACROSS EASTERN PAWNEE COUNTY. THE
BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE OVER THE AREA AND MORE HEAVY RAINS ARE
POSSIBLE THIS EVENING.
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING jIS LIKELY OR HAS BEEN
REPORTED.  STAY ALERT AND WATCH FOR RAPIDLY RISING WATER.
REMEMBER...IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU ARE RELATIVE TO THE
NEAREST STREAM...CREEK OR RIVER WHICH CAN BECOME A KILLER DURING
PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN.

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 12, 3:29 PM CDT, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 3:29 PM CDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN OKLAHOMA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
328 PM CDT TUE JUL 12 1994

TYPICAL MID-SUMMER WX WILL PREVAIL THE NEXT 2 DAYS WITH ZONAL FLOW
OVER ERN OK.  A SERIES OF WK VORTS WILL ROTATE EWD...MAINLY ALG THE
NRN FRINGE OF THE STATE...BUT MDLS ARE HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME
RESOLVING THE TIMING AND TRACK OF THESE WK SHRTWVS. ALTHOUGH NGM
AND ETA DID A GOOD JOB INITIALIZING THE MCV OVR NW OK THIS MORNING
(AVN MISSED THIS FEATURE)...THE NGM IS DOING THE BEST JOB OF
TRACKING THIS SYSTEM E ACCORDING TO LATEST PROFILER DATA AND SATL
IMAGERY.  AS A RESULT...FCST WILL LEAN TOWARD NGM SOLN.

AFOREMENTIONED MCV LOOKS TO HAVE A SLIGHTLY N OF E
MOVMEMENT...SUGGESTING THAT 12 HR NGM MAY BY A BIT TOO FAR S WITH
VORT MAX. HOWEVER...VORT "TAIL" ASSOCD WITH MCV CIRCULATION IS
ALREADY KICKING OFF A FEW SHOWERS W OF PNC...SO WILL UP 1ST PD POPS
A NOTCH OVR EXTREME NRN ZNS.

FARTHER S...CURRENT SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS DIFFUSE WARM FNT DRAPED OVR
SE OK. THIS BNDRY IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO
LOCATE...BUT WK CONVERGENCE AND SFC DWPTS NEAR 80 SUPPORT SLIGHTLY
HIGHER POPS OVERNIGHT FOR ZN 77.

BASICALLY BROADBRUSHED POPS FOR WED AND THU AS WK SHRTWVS WILL BE
DIFFICULT TO TIME AND COLD FNT STAYS N OF OK.  FOR THE
TEMPS...LEANED TOWARD SLIGHTLY WARMER FPC NUMBERS DUE TO
PERSISTENCE.

IN THE LONGER RNG...MED RNG MDLS AND LATEST HAND-DRAWN GUIDANCE FM
NMC SUGGESTS THAT FNT CURRENTLY OVR CNTRL PLAINS MAY STALL ALG
OK/KS AND EVENTUALLY LIFT N.  AS A RESULT...EXTENDED WILL BE WORDED
TO REFLECT BEST CHANCES OF PCPN FOR NRN ZNS.

PRELIM NUMBERS:
TUL 70/90 72/93 332  MLC 70/91 72/93 432
BVO 68/91 70/93 432  IDB 71/90 72/92 432

...18...

.TUL...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 12, 2:29 PM CDT, 4 hours 46 minutes before
LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
230 PM CDT TUE JUL 12 1994

THE FOLLOWING IS SENT TO CLARIFY EVENTS IN PAWNEE COUNTY OK
ON THE EVENING OF MAY 6TH 1994...

TIME(CDT)     COUNTY/STATE    EVENT
840 PM        PAWNEE/OK       TORNADO...

A STRONG REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT ASSOCIATED WITH A HEAVY PRECIPITATION
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED A SWATH OF WIND DAMAGE 2 TO 4 MILES WIDE
FROM NEAR THE ARKANSAS RIVER 5 MILES WEST OF RALSTON TO NEAR THE CITY OF
PAWNEE.  NUMEROUS TREES WERE DOWNED OR DAMAGED...A BARN WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED
AND THE ROOF TO A HOME WAS DAMAGED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALSTON.  POWER
POLES JUST WEST OF THE INTERESECTION OF HIGHWAYS 15 AND 18 WERE DOWNED.

THE MAJORITY OF THE TREE DAMAGE INDICATED NORTH TO NORTHWEST SURFACE WINDS
IN THE REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT...HOWEVER SEVERAL TREES 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
RALSTON INDICATED SOUTH TO NORTH FLOW AND SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST FLOW...
SUGGESTING THE PRESENCE OF A WEAK> TORNADO EMBEDDED IN THE DOWNBURST.

THE TORNADO WAS RATED F0...WITH A PATH LENGTH OF .75 MILES
AND A WIDTH OF 50 YARDS AND OCCURRED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALSTON.
Local storm report, Jul 12, 2:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes before
LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
230 PM CDT TUE JUL 12 1994

THE FOLLOWING IS SENT TO CLARIFY EVENTS IN PAWNEE COUNTY OK
ON THE EVENING OF MAY 6TH 1994...

TIME(CDT)     COUNTY/STATE    EVENT
840 PM        PAWNEE/OK       TORNADO...

A STRONG REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT ASSOCIATED WITH A HEAVY PRECIPITATION
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED A SWATH OF WIND DAMAGE 2 TO 4 MILES WIDE
FROM NEAR THE ARKANSAS RIVER 5 MILES WEST OF RALSTON TO NEAR THE CITY OF
PAWNEE.  NUMEROUS TREES WERE DOWNED OR DAMAGED...A BARN WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED
AND THE ROOF TO A HOME WAS DAMAGED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALSTON.  POWER
POLES JUST WEST OF THE INTERESECTION OF HIGHWAYS 15 AND 18 WERE DOWNED.

THE MAJORITY OF THE TREE DAMAGE INDICATED NORTH TO NORTHWEST SURFACE WINDS
IN THE REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT...HOWEVER SEVERAL TREES 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
RALSTON INDICATED SOUTH TO NORTH FLOW AND SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST FLOW...
SUGGESTING THE PRESENCE OF A WEAK TORNADO EMBEDDED IN THE DOWNBURST.

THE TORNADO WAS RATED F0...WITH A PATH LENGTH OF .75 MILES
AND A WIDTH OF 50 YARDS AND OCCURRED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF RALSTON.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 13, 1:42 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAOsage48 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Oklahoma, 1994Every flash flood warning in 1994

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.