Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Norman, OK

May 7, 1997Grant County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1997, 6:26 PM CDT for Grant County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 34 min. 3 reports came from 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, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 7, 1997, 6:26 PM CDT (23:26 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1997, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Grant County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:27 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 7, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Wakita, OK	A tornado touched down 2 miles west of Wakita and moved southeast to a location 1 mile south of Wakita on Highway 11A. Along this path, 9 power poles and numerous tree limbs were blown down and the cross-arms on all of the remaining utility poles were snapped
May 7, 7:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Wakita, OK	Severe thunderstorm winds blew part of the roof off of a 2-story storage building.
May 7, 7:05 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Medford, OK	A roof was blown off a grain elevator by severe thunderstorm winds.

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 7, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lamont, OK (KLMN), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 32 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: 136 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -134 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 925 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 161 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KOKC 072328 RRA
TOROKC
OKC053-080000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
626 PM CDT WED MAY 07 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA
     NORTHERN GRANT

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     DEER CREEK...MANCHESTER...RENFROW AND WAKITA

AT 626 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LARGE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO OVER NORTHWESTERN GRANT COUNTY. THE MOST
DANGEROUS PART OF THE STORM WAS JUST WEST OF WAKITA. PEOPLE IN NORTHERN
GRANT COUNTY...ESPECIALLY IN THE WAKITA AREA SHOULD TAKE COVER NOW. HAIL
UP TO BASEBALL SIZE IS ALSO LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. 


THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH


LAT...LON 3673  9747 3673  9806 3700  9807 3716  9749

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	45 min
May 7, 6:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	26 min
May 7, 6:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	48 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.