Alert archive / Oklahoma / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS Tulsa, OK

August 17, 1996Osage County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this flash flood warning at Aug 17, 1996, 4:22 PM CDT for Osage County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 17, 1996, 4:22 PM CDT (21:22 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 1996, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Osage County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:24 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 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 181 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: 49 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -77 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1334 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUL 172123
FFWTUL
OKC113-180030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
422 PM CDT SAT AUG 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...CENTRAL AND EASTERN OSAGE COUNTY
 
HEAVY RAINFALL OVER PORTIONS OF OSAGE COUNTY HAS PRODUCED FLASH FLOODING
IN THE PAWHUSKA AREA. RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF AROUND 2 INCHES ARE COMMON
ACROSS PARTS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL OSAGE COUNTY...AND MORE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT IS OCCURRING WEST OF THE FLOODED AREA. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL
AMOUNTS NEAR 1 INCH COULD OCCUR WITHIN THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS IN THE
WARNED AREA.
 
RESIDENTS OF PAWHUSKA SHOULD SEEK HIGHER GROUND IF RISING FLOOD WATERS
APPROACH THEM.
 
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 Aug 17, 3:43 PM CDT, 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 17, 3:43 PM CDT, 39 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
340 PM CDT SAT AUG 17 1996

TWO AREAS OF RAINFALL ONGOING AT THIS TIME.  ONE AREA OF RAIN WITH
EMBEDDED THUNDER IS LOCATED OVER NW AR AND XTRM E OK AND MOVING TO
THE NORTHEAST...WHILE A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS DRIFTS EVER SO SLOWLY
EASTWARD ALONG AND JUST SOUTH OF THE KS BORDER.  WILL KEEP 50 TO 60
POPS TO HANDLE THIS ACTIVITY THIS EVENING ALONG THE KS AND MO
BORDERS.  WILL ALSO SPREAD CHANCE POPS THIS EVENING FURTHER SOUTH
AS SHEAR ZONE REMAINS JUST WEST OF THE AREA WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE
TO WORK WITH.

BOTH THE NGM AND AVN FORECAST A RIDGE TO BUILD OUT OVER THE AREA
THROUGH THE PERIOD...AS THE VORT GETS PICKED IN INCREASING
SOUTHWEST FLOW.  WILL GO AHEAD AND LEAVE CHANCE POPS IN FORECAST
FOR TOMORROW WHILE SHEAR ZONE CONTINUES TO DRAG ITS FEET...BUT WILL
ONLY HAVE SLIGHT CHANCE IN NE ZONES FOR SUNDAY NIGHT AND HOPE THAT
THIS THING ACTUALLY MOVES ON OUTTA HERE.

WITH PLENTY OF LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE AROUND WILL CALL TOMORROW PARTLY
SUNNY/MOSTLY CLOUDY AND UNDERCUT MOS TEMPS CAT OR SO.  LOOKS LIKE
WE MAY SEE SOME DECENT SUNSHINE ON MONDAY WITH PARTLY CLOUDY
SKIES...AND TEMPS SHOULD RISE WELL.  WILL ONLY UNDERCUT MOS BY A
DEGREE OR TWO FOR MONDAY.  MOS LOWS LOOK REASONABLE AND FORECAST
LOWS WILL BE CLOSE.

...19...

...PRELIM NUMBERS...
TUL 70/86 73/90 43-2          FSM 70/83 66/90 4412
MLC 70/85 72/89 32-2          FYV 66/8L2 69/89 5422
BVO 67/88 72/92 53-2          BYV 66/80 64/88 5422
IDB 69/90 68/92 2212

.TUL...
OK...NONE.
AR...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 17, 4:06 PM CDT, 16 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
359 PM CDT SAT AUG 17 1996

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

3 54 PM    PAWHUSKA                  OK   TSTM GUST
08/17/96   OSAGE                          70 MPH WIND GUST

3 54 PM    PAWHUSKA                  OK   1.75 HAIL
08/17/96   OSAGE                          GOLFBALL HAIL

3 55 PM    PAWHUSKA                  OK   1.00 HAIL
08/17/96   OSAGE                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL IN PAWHUSKA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 17, 3:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage	61 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Oklahoma, 1996 Every flash flood warning in 1996

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.