Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 51, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Sep 26, 1996, 12:46 PM CDT for Sebastian County, Arkansas. It was in force for 29 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 26, 1996, 12:46 PM CDT (17:46 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 26, 1996, 1:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sebastian County, AR
The nearest sounding before it
Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 284 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 617 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 56 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -123 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -28 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTUL 261747 TORTUL ARC131-261815- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 1246 PM CDT THU SEP 26 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS ...EASTERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY AT 12 47 PM A TORNADO WAS INDICATED NEAR LAVACA MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. IF YOU LIVE IN THE LAVACA AREA MOVE TO A SAFE PLACE IMMEDIATELY. 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. KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS. &
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 Sep 26, 10:29 AM CDT, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 26, 10:29 AM CDT, 2 hours 17 minutes before
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 1025 AM CDT THU SEP 26 1996 A BUSY NIGHT HAS TURNED INTO A BUSY DAY. RAINFALL REPORTS IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM THE MESONET AT WESTVILLE AND FROM COOP OBSERVER AT TAHLEQUAH. ANLYS OF MRNG UA DATA SHOWS WNDS AOA 700 MB ALL PARALLEL TO CURRENT LINE OF CONVECTION. THEREFORE...SLOW MOVEMENT WL STILL BE THE RULE THROUGH THIS MRNG. WV IMGRY SHOWS ANOTHER S/W NOW OVR TX PNHDL AND WRN OK THAT WL SWING EWD THIS AFTN. IT MAY FINALLY SHIFT ACTIVITY TO THE EAST AND END TRAINING OF CELLS AND REDUCE THE FLOODING THREAT. HOWEVER...THE ASSOC MID LVL DRYING ALONG WITH 50+ KT MID-LVL JET STREAK WL BE THE IMPETUS FOR MORE SVR WX. AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE FSM AREA WHERE LOW- TOPPED CONVECTION HAS BEEN FIRING UP AHEAD OF MAIN TSRA LINE. AS S/W APPROACHES...AND MSTR INFLOW CONTS WITH INCRG DIRECTIONAL WIND SHEAR...THIS CUD BE WHERE MORE SVR WX GETS STARTED THIS AFTN. WL NOT CHANGE AREAL COVERAGE OF FFA. THE NRN COUNTIES IN THE WATCH AREA MAY NOT NECESSARILY RECEIVE ANY MORE HEAVY RAIN...BUT AFTER 2- 3 INCHES...IT WUD NOT TAKE MUCH MORE RAIN TO CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS. WL ISSUE FFS TO UPDATE THE SITUATION. SE OK WL LIKELY SEE EXCESSIVE RAINFALL THIS AFTN AS FWD HAD A 12Z 850 MB DWPT OF 17C AND IMPRESSIVE INSTABILITY PARAMETERS. WELL-DEFINED THETA-E AXIS WAS LOCATED ALONG 40-KT LO-LVL JET AXIS STRETCING THROUGH FWD INTO SE OK AND W-CENTRALH AR. ZNS MAY BE ABOUT 10-15 MINS LATE. 22 .TUL... .OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ZNS 62/63/65>77. .AR...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ZNS 1/2/10/11/19/29.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 26, 6:26 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Benton | 3 hr |
| Sep 26, 8:46 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Washington | 3 hr |
| Sep 26, 9:32 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Benton | 3 hr |
| Sep 26, 10:37 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Carroll, Madison | 3 hr |
| Sep 26, 11:29 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Washington | 3 hr |
| Sep 26, 12:22 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TSA | Crawford, Sebastian | 3 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.