Alert archive / Oklahoma / Flash Flood Warnings in 1995

Flash Flood Warning 6, NWS Tulsa, OK

April 16, 1995Pawnee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this flash flood warning at Apr 16, 1995, 8:51 PM CDT for Pawnee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 16, 1995, 8:51 PM CDT (01:51 UTC)
Expired: Apr 17, 1995, 12:00 AM 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 01:53 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, 1.9 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1535 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUL 170152
FFWTUL
OKC117-170500-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
851 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...PAWNEE COUNTY
 
DURING THE EVENING THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED BETWEEN 2 AND 4 INCHES OF RAIN
ACROSS PAWNEE COUNTY...IN A NARROW BAND FROM SOUTHWEST OF MARAMEC TO
CLEVELAND. SEVERAL ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL TRACK ACROSS THIS SAME
AREA BETWEEN NOW AND 1100 PM. THIS WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ALONG
CREEKS AND DITCHES AND STREET FLOODING IN CLEVELAND AND MARAMEC.
 
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS 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.
 
MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT DRIVE YOUR
VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.  THE WATER
MAY BE TOO DEEP TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY.  IF YOUR
VEHICLE GETS CAUGHT IN RISING WATER...ABANDONED IT QUICKLY.  THEN
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS.

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 Apr 16, 3:41 PM CDT, 5 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 3:41 PM CDT, 5 hours 10 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
340 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995

NOT MUCH TIME FOR DISCUSSION WITH SEVERE WEATHER MOVING INTO THE NW
PART OF THE FCST AREA. LIKED THE ETA MODEL THE BEST WITH THE MORE SRN
TRACK OF THE SFC LOW AND IT MAY EVEN GO FURTHER SOUTH THAN THE ETA
INITIALLY. POSITION BY 48 HOURS IS PROBABLY CLOSE THOUGH. WEAK SFC LOW
NEAR EMP AT 20Z WILL MOVE OFF TO THE EAST THIS EVENING AND ALLOW THE
COLD FRONT TO DROP DOWN INTO NE OK OVERNIGHT. PROBLEM IS IN DETERMINING
HOW FAR SOUTH THIS FRONT WILL GO BEFORE STALLING EARLY MONDAY. BEST
GUESS NOW IS NEAR TULSA. WILL GO LIKELY POPS IN NE OK TONIGHT AND TAPER
DOWN TO JUST 20% IN EXTREME SE OK.

FRONT WILL MOVE BACK NORTH AS A WARM FRONT MONDAY AS UPPER SYSTEM MOVES
OUT OF THE ROCKIES IN THE WRN PLAINS. DRYLINE WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL OK
BY AFTERNOON AND PACIFIC COLD FRONT WILL MERGE WITH THE DRYLINE MONDAY
NIGHT AND SWEEP ACROSS ALL OF ERN OK BY EARLY TUESDAY. GUIDANCE POPS
TOO LOW AS WIDESPREAD TSTMS EXPECTED IN THE VERY JUICY AIR EAST OF THE
DRYLINE. A SQUALL LINE IS ALSO LIKELY TO DEVELOP RIGHT ALONG THE
DRYLINE SO WILL HAVE LIKELY TO CATEGORICAL POPS MONDAY AND LIKELY POPS
MONDAY NIGHT EXCEPT IN THE FAR WRN ZONES WHERE THE DRYLINE WILL BE
CLOSE BY 00Z.

WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE OF EARLY MORNING SHOWERS AND TSTMS IN FAR SE
OK TUESDAY BUT OTHERWISE TUESDAY LOOKS MOSTLY SUNNY AND MILD ALBEIT A
BIT ON THE WINDY SIDE.

GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE EXCEPT SEEM MUCH TOO WARM FOR MINS
MONDAY NIGHT.

TUL 62/75/45/73  6950   FSM 64/78/48/77  3761   MLC 67/78/46/76  3850
BVO 58/73/42/72  6940   FYV 62/77/44/72  586-   IDB 65/78/50/79  2662
BYV 61/77/45/72  4861

.TUL...NONE.

PLATE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 16, 4:31 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
429 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0428 PM    3 MI SOUTH HWYS 99 & 10   OK   0.88 INCH HAIL
04/16/95   OSAGE

Local storm report, Apr 16, 7:36 PM CDT, 1 hour 15 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
735 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0729 PM    CLEVELAND                 OK   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/16/95   PAWNEE

Local storm report, Apr 16, 7:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
745 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0737 PM    CLEVELAND                 OK   1.25 INCH HAIL
04/16/95   PAWNEE

Local storm report, Apr 16, 8:46 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
845 PM CDT SUN APR 16 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0709 PM    SKIATOOK                  OK   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/16/95   TULSA                          SEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN

0816 PM    2 MI N OF SPERRY          OK   0.75 IN HAIL
04/16/95   TULSA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 16, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage	45 min
Apr 16, 7:53 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Rogers	3 hr
Apr 16, 8:07 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Osage, Tulsa	3 hr
Apr 16, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Tulsa	40 min
Apr 16, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek	48 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Oklahoma, 1995 Every flash flood warning in 1995

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.