Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Norman, OK

May 8, 1997Clay County, Texas

NWS Norman, OK issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1997, 8:41 PM CDT for Clay County, Texas. It was in force for 34 min. 3 reports 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 8, 1997, 8:41 PM CDT (01:41 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1997, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Clay County, TX

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 8, 8:50 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Deer Creek, TX	Severe thunderstorm winds blew windows out of a house.
May 8, 8:55 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Deer Creek, TX	A small tornado, probably a gustnado, blew part of the roof off a barn.
May 8, 9:00 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Joy, TX

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 8, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 1444 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 916 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KOKC 090140 RRA
TOROKC
TXC077-090215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
841 PM CDT THU MAY 08 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN NORTHERN TEXAS
     SOUTHERN CLAY

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     BLUEGROVE...JOY...LAKE ARROWHEAD AND VASHTI

AT 841 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LARGE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM...STILL CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO...CENTERED BETWEEN
DEER CREEK AND PROSPECT. THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. 

TAKE COVER NOW.  ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES.  MOVE TO
SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF POSSIBLE.  OTHERWISE...MOVE TO AN
INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.


CB/MLB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Archer, Clay	52 min
May 8, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Baylor, Wichita, Wilbarger	45 min
May 8, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard, Knox	45 min
May 8, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Archer, Clay, Wichita	50 min
May 8, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Baylor, Knox	50 min
May 8, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Clay	45 min
May 8, 8:28 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Wichita	3 hr
May 8, 8:34 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Archer, Clay	3 hr
May 8, 9:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Baylor, Knox	4 hr
May 8, 11:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Archer, Clay, Wichita	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.