Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 103, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 2, 1997Okmulgee County, Tulsa County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 2, 1997, 2:31 AM CDT for Okmulgee County, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 44 min. 2 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 2, 1997, 2:31 AM CDT (07:31 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 3:15 AM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

Counties Okmulgee County, OK, Tulsa County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:33 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 2, 2:43 AM CDT	Hail 0.88	Glenpool, OK
May 2, 2:45 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Okmulgee, 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

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 150 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2236 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 179 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 497 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUL 020731 RRA
SVRTUL
OKC111-143-020815-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
231 AM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...NORTHERN OKMULGEE COUNTY...SOUTHERN TULSA COUNTY
 
AT 230 AM...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
KELLYVILLE. GLENPOOL...BIXBY...KELLYVILLE AND BEGGS ARE NEAR THE PATH OF
THIS STORM. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 50 MPH.
 
HAIL TO THE SIZE OF DIMES AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED
IN THE WARNED AREA.
 
DURING THE STORM MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM LIGHTNING DO NOT USE THE TELEPHONE
OR HAND HELD ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES...UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY.
MOTORISTS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR WATER ON ROADWAYS AND NEVER
DRIVE ONTO A FLOODED ROAD.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS.

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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 1, 8:56 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 8:56 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
855 PM CDT THU MAY 1 1997

CONVECTION GETTING ORGANIZED TO WEST OF THE AREA THIS EVE. ISOLD
SUPERCELLS THAT DVLPD IN WRN OK/TX PH THIS AFTN WERE GRADUALLY
WEAKENING AS THEY MOVD TOWARD CENTRAL OKLA.

INSTBY/MOIST AXIS EXTDD FROM CNTRL TX INTO NW OKLA THIS EVE.
NOTICEABLY DRIER AND MORE STABLE AIR WAS LOCATED ACRS ERN OKLA/NW ARK
EARLY THIS EVE WITH SFC DEWPTS STILL IN THE 30S AND 40S. AS SFC WARM
FRONT ACRS SW OKLA AND NRN TX MOVES N TONITE...RICH MSTR WILL
OVERSPREAD AREA. INCRG MSTR...STG WAA AND A FAVBL WIND PROFILE ALL
INDICATE THAT THE DEVELOPING MCS OVR SRN KS/NW OK WILL SPREAD ESE
INTO ERN OKLA AFT 06Z AND INTO NW ARK AFT 08Z. ALTHO INSTBY WILL
STILL BE MARGINAL WHEN THE MCS ARRIVES...EXCELLENT LO LVL WIND SHEAR
WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR SVR STORMS TONITE.

WL ISSUE AN UPDATE BY 0230Z TO FINE-TUNE THE 1ST PD OF ZONE PKG.
LIKELY OR CATEGORICAL POPS WILL BE KEPT IN MOST AREAS...WITH A
MENTION OF SVR MAINLY IN WRN PART OF FA.

NO CHGS TO LATER PDS OF FCST.
                                              /9

.TUL...
OK...NONE.
AR...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 2, 2:09 AM CDT, 22 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
209 AM CDT FRI MAY 02 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0040 AM    1 N PAWNEE                OK   .88 INCH HAIL
05/02/97   PAWNEE

0056 AM    PAWNEE                    OK   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/02/97   PAWNEE

0125 AM    7 W SAND SPRINGS          OK   65 MPH TSTM GUST
05/02/97   TULSA                          REPORTED AT KEYSTONE DAM

Local storm report, May 2, 2:10 AM CDT, 21 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA, OK
209 AM CDT FRI MAY 02 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0040 AM    1 N PAWNEE                OK   .88 INCH HAIL
05/02/97   PAWNEE

0056 AM    PAWNEE                    OK   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/02/97   PAWNEE

0125 AM    7 W SAND SPRINGS          OK   65 MPH TSTM GUST
05/02/97   TULSA                          REPORTED AT KEYSTONE DAM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 12:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage, Pawnee	51 min
May 2, 12:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek, Osage, Pawnee, Tulsa	65 min
May 2, 12:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Washington	65 min
May 2, 2:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek	53 min
May 2, 2:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Muskogee, Wagoner	44 min
May 2, 3:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee, Muskogee	30 min
May 2, 12:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Craig	39 min
May 2, 4:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell	49 min
May 2, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	45 min
May 2, 4:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	28 min

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.