Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Norman, OK

May 23, 1997Ellis County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT for Ellis County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 38 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: May 23, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 1997, 4:15 PM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Ellis County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 157 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:36 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
May 23, 4:05 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Gage, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 173 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: 181 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 536 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 210 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 23, 3:30 PM CDT, 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 3:30 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

FPUS3 KOKC 232006
AFDOKC

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
330 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

ANOTHER INTERESTING AND COMPLEX FORECAST. EXPECT CONVECTION TO
INCREASE AND SPREAD EASTWARD AS SHORT WAVE OVER TX PNHDL APPROACHES
FA.  MODELS HAVE NOT PICKED UP ON THIS WAVE AT ALL SO HAVE BASICALLY
IGNORED FOR TONIGHTS FORECAST. ONLY REAL DIFFERENCE FOR SATURDAY IS
MOIST AXIS SHIFTED A LITTLE EAST AND DRY INTRUSION INTO WRN ZONES.
STILL LOOKS LIKE MONDAY WILL BE A GOOD SHOT FOR SEVERE WEATHER.

FCSTID = 10
OKC   63  82  64  85 /  40  20  30  20
HBR   62  87  64  89 /  40  20  20  20
SPS   63  86  65  83 /  40  20  30  20
GAG   59  89  62  85 /  30  20  20  20
PNC   64  85  66  84 /  40  20  30  20
DUA   64  82  67  87 /  40  30  30  20

.OKC...
OK...NONE.
TX...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 23, 12:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before

OKZ004>053-TXZ083>090-241130-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1230 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

...A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS THROUGH TONIGHT FOR THE NORTHWESTERN
HALF OF OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. PRIMARY THREAT IS LARGE
HAIL...

THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS WEST OF A LINE FROM PONCA CITY TO OKLAHOMA CITY
TO WICHITA FALLS TO SEYMOUR.

A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE EXTENDS FROM NORTHERN KANSAS INTO THE EASTERN
TEXAS PANHANDLE. THE ATMOSPHERE TO THE EAST OF THE TROUGH IS VERY MOIST
AND WILL BECOME MORE UNSTABLE AS THE AFTERNOON PROGRESSES. THUNDERSTORMS
ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE TROUGH LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT
AS A DISTURBANCE ALONG THE JET STREAM APROACHES FROM NEW MEXICO.

ONCE STORMS DEVELOP...A FEW MAY BECOME SEVERE AS THEY MOVE EAST AND
NORTHEAST ACROSS WESTERN OKLAHOMA. SOME STORMS MAY BE SEVERE AS FAR
SOUTH AS THE WICHITA FALLS AND KNOX CITY AREAS IN NORTH TEXAS. SEVERE
STORMS WILL LIKELY BECOME LESS NUMEROUS AS THEY MOVE INTO CENTRAL
OKLAHOMA AFTER THE SUN GOES DOWN.

WIND PROFILES IN THE LOWEST LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE SUGGEST THAT LARGE
HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT.

STORM SPOTTERS IN THE SLIGHT RISK AREA SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER
FORECASTS AND PREPARE FOR ACTIVATION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO
TONIGHT.

BSC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 3:05 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Ellis	115 min
May 23, 5:00 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Ellis	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oklahoma, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.