Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Tulsa, OK

June 6, 1996Okfuskee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Jun 6, 1996, 7:05 PM CDT for Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 25 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 6, 1996, 7:05 PM CDT (00:05 UTC)
Expired: Jun 6, 1996, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Okfuskee County, OK

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:05 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jun 6, 7:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 56	Weleetka, OK

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 101 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: 73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -328 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 308 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUL 070012 RRA
TORTUL
OKC107-070030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
705 PM CDT THU JUN 6 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
 
   ...SOUTHERN OKFUSKEE COUNTY
 
AT 705 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVLOPING TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTH OF
OKEMAH MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. SPOTTERS ARE ALSO REPORTING A FUNNEL CLOUD
3 MILES SOUTH OF OKEMAH. WELEETKA IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
STAY AWAY FROM OUTSIDE WALLS AND AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND
MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET IN A GROUND DEPRESSION.
 
WATCH FOR SIGNS OF DEVELOPING STORMS.  LARGE HAILSTONES AND UNUSUALLY
LOW SWIRLING CLOUDS ARE MANY TIMES SEEN NEAR DEVELOPING TORNADOES.
STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES OFTEN PRODUCE A LOUD ROARING
SOUND THAT CAN BE HEARD IN THE VICINITY OF STORMS. FREQUENT AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING OCCURS WITH MOST SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
 
 
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Jun 6, 3:42 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 6, 3:42 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
345 PM CDT THU JUN 6 1996

OUTFLOW BNDRY HAS BEEN FOCUS FOR TRW DVLPMT THIS AFTN OVR NW AR.
OTR TRW HAV CONTD ALONG SLOW-MOVING LINE OVR XTRM SRN KS THIS AFTN.
EXCESSIVE RAINFALL IS A PSBLTY GIVEN LOW FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE
VALUES AOB 2 INCHES/HOUR AND THE DVLPMT OF SLOW MOVING LINES OF
CONVECTION. WL ISSUE FFA FOR ALL ZNS EXCEPT FROM TUL TO THE
WEST...WHERE FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES ARE CLOSER TO 3
INCHES/HOUR.

WATER VAPOR LOOP CONTS TO SHOW IMPRESSIVE S/W DIVING SOUTH OVR HI
CNTRL PLAINS. UPR LVL POOL OF COLD AIR WL MOV OVR WARM LO-LVL
THETA-E POOLING ALONG FRONT TO CAUSE FURTHER DESTABILIZATION OF
ATMOS THIS EVNG. WEAK CAP OVR SE OK SHUD BREAK. WND PROFILE OVR SE
OK/W CNTRL AR CUD SUPPORT ISOLD SUPERCELLS...ALTHO THEY SHUD NOT BE
LONG-LIVED. WND PROFILE MAY NOT BE AS SUPPORTIVE FOR SUPERCELLS IN
NE OK.

UPR LOW SHUD HANG UP OVR MID-MS VLY BY FRI NGT. COLD POOL ALOFT...
CYCLONIC FLOW...AND WRAPAROUND OF LO-LVL MSTR SHUD SUPPORT STRATOCU
DVLPMT WITH PSBL RW...PARTICULARLY DURG DAYTIME HEATING. DRY SLOT
MAY WORK INTO SRN ZNS...SO WL LET LATER SHIFTS DECIDE ON NECESSITY
OF POPS THERE FOR FRI NT/SAT.
22

PRELIM NUMBERS...SUBJECT TO LAST MINUTE CHANGES
TUL 061/079 058/075 7212
FSM 063/079 058/074 8521
MLC 063/078 057/075 7521
BVO 058/078 056/075 8211
FYV 060/074 054/069 7422
IDB 067/079 060/078 6721
BYV 061/074 055/071 7423

.TUL...
OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT ZNS 56>58/61>63/67>76.
AR...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT ZNS 1/2/10/11/19/29.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 6, 2:20 PM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
215 PM CDT THU JUN 06 1996

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

1225 AM    BRISTOW                   OK   WIND DAMAGE
06/06/96   CREEK                          LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN

1250 AM    4 E NEW PRUE              OK   WIND DAMAGE
06/06/96   OSAGE                          SMALL TREES AND LIMBS
                                          KNOCKED DOWN

1250 AM    4 E NEW PRUE              OK   TSTM GUST
06/06/96   OSAGE                          60 MPH WIND GUST AT
                                          ZINK RANCH

1250 AM    4 E NEW PRUE              OK   WIND DAMAGE
06/06/96   OSAGE                          SMALL TREES AND LIMBS
                                          KNOCKED DOWN

1250 AM    4 E NEW PRUE              OK   TSTM GUST
06/06/96   OSAGE                          60 MPH WIND GUST AT
                                          ZINK RANCH

0120 AM    8 SE FORAKER              OK   TSTM GUST
06/06/96   OSAGE                          65 MPH WIND GUST RECORDED
                                          ON MESONET.  OTHER GUSTS
                                          IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH RECORDED
                                          BETWEEN 110 AM AND 130 AM

Local storm report, Jun 6, 3:07 PM CDT, 3 hours 58 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
305 PM CDT THU JUN 06 1996

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

0301 PM    8 S GREEN FOREST   V       AR   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/06/96   CARROLL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 6, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Pittsburg	41 min
Jun 6, 7:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	38 min
Jun 6, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell, LeFlore, Sequoyah	42 min
Jun 6, 7:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	49 min
Jun 6, 8:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell, Latimer	43 min
Jun 6, 8:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer	43 min
Jun 6, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	53 min
Jun 6, 9:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	51 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.