Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 49, NWS Norman, OK

May 29, 1997Custer County, Dewey County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this tornado warning at May 29, 1997, 9:28 PM CDT for Custer County, Dewey County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 47 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued: May 29, 1997, 9:28 PM CDT (02:28 UTC)
Expired: May 29, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:27 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 29, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 519 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -67 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1199 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 335 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

586 
WFUS1 KOKC 300229 RRA
TOROKC
OKC039-043-300315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
928 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
     WESTERN CUSTER AND SOUTHWESTERN DEWEY

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     BUTLER...FOSS RESEVIOR...LEEDEY AND MC CLURE

AT 928 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6
MILES NORTH OF LEEDEY MOVING SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST AT 20 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.

LAT...LON 3561  9907 3547  9935 3598  9939 3589  9912

...SPEG.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 29, 7:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Harper	65 min
May 29, 7:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Ellis	36 min
May 29, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woodward	45 min
May 29, 8:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Ellis, Woodward	25 min
May 29, 8:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Woodward	33 min
May 29, 8:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Ellis	44 min
May 29, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Dewey, Ellis	45 min
May 29, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woodward	50 min
May 29, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Ellis	29 min
May 29, 9:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Roger Mills	30 min
May 29, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Custer	45 min
May 30, 1:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Tillman	47 min
May 30, 2:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Tillman	29 min
May 30, 2:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Tillman	46 min
May 30, 6:50 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Carter, Love, Marshall	3 hr
May 30, 12:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Carter, Jefferson, Stephens	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.