Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 276, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 17, 1997, 5:43 PM CDT for Crawford County, Sebastian County, Arkansas. It was in force for 47 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
- Jul 17, 1997, 5:43 PM CDT (22:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 17, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Crawford County, AR, Sebastian County, AR
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 17, 5:59 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Van Buren, AR | |
| Jul 17, 5:59 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 | Van Buren, AR | |
| Jul 17, 6:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Ft Smith, AR | Severe thunderstorms developed in northwest Arkansas during the afternoon of July 17th. Strong thunderstorm winds blew a large tree down across a road 3 miles northeast of Fort Smith, and trees were blown down by 75 mile an hour winds on the south side of Van |
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
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2949 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 923 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 24 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 61 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTUL 172244 RRA SVRTUL ARC033-131-172330- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 543 PM CDT THU JUL 17 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS ...SOUTHERN CRAWFORD COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS ...NORTHERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY AT 5 40 PM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED 3 MILES EAST OF VAN BUREN...AND ANOTHER WAS DEVELOPING RAIDLY OVER NORTHERN SEBESTIAN COUNTY NEAR LAVACA. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE WEST AT 5 MILES AN HOUR. HAIL TO THE SIZE OF DIMES AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED IN TH E WARNED AREA. 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 Jul 17, 3:42 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 3:42 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute before
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 340 PM CDT THU JUL 17 1997 UPPER LOW OVER OSAGE COUNTY CONTINUES TO FOCUS CONVECTION OVER WATER-LOGGED NWRN ZONES...MEANWHILE OTHER STRONG CONVECTION HAS FIRED UP ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IN OKFUSKEE AND OKMULGEE COUNTIES. FEEL THAT UPPER-LOW WILL BE THE MAJOR PLAYER IN THE PRECIP GAME OVER NEXT 24 HOURS. WILL GO WITH ETA/AVN MOVEMENT OF THIS FEATURE AND ASSOCIATED PRECIP. BOTH OF THESE MODELS SLIDE THE LOW SLOWLY WEST OR SOUTHWEST OVER THE NEXT 36 HOURS AS UPPER RIDGE WEAKENS WITH THE APPROACH OF T.S. DANNY. WILL EXTEND/EXPAND FFA FROM OSAGE TO OKFUSKEE COUNTY FOR TONIGHT AS UPPER-LOW MOVES SLOWLY SOUTHWESTWARD NEAR THAT AREA. EACH OF THESE COUNTIES HAS ALREADY HAD AT LEAST LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN TODAY...WITH WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAIN OVER OSAGE AND PAWNEE COUNTIES. FURTHER EAST AND SOUTH EXPECT THAT WIDELY SCATTERED SHRA/TSRA WILL DISSIPATE EARLY THIS EVENING. WILL GET LAST LOOK AT RADAR BEFORE ADDING EVENING POPS ACROSS THESE AREAS. WILL LIKELY SEE SOME REMNANT SHRA/TSRA OVER WATCH AREA INTO THE MORNING HOURS TOMORROW...BEFORE IT MOVES COMPLETELY OUT OF THE AREA. THEREFORE WILL LEAVE CHANCE POPS IN WRN ZONES TOMORROW WITH WDLY SCT CONVECTION EXPECTED AGAIN TOMORROW AFTERNOON OVER ENTIRE FA. THE APPROACH OF T.S. DANNY TO GULF COAST MAY HELP SUPPRESS THIS DIURNAL ACTIVITY ON SATURDAY...BUT WITH WEAK CAP AND SOME INSTABILITY WILL LEAVE SLT CHC IN FOR ENTIRE AREA ON SAT. AS FOR TEMPS FWC/FAN ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT...BUT NEITHER ONE OF THEM THINK IT WILL RAIN. ONLY DEVIATION FROM MOS TEMPS WILL BE TO COOL THINGS OFF WHERE RAIN IS EXPECTED. ...19... ...:PRELIM NUMBERS... TUL 72/91 74/93 4412 FSM 72/95 70/94 1212 MLC 71/93 72/93 3312 BVO 68/90 71/94 5412 FYV 67/91 68/91 1212 IDB 69/95 69/94 1212 BYV 66/92 67/92 1212 .TUL... OK...FFA TONIGHT ZNS 54/59/64/65. AR...NONE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 17, 1:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 43 minutes before
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-029-OKZ054>076-181200- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 100 PM CDT THU JUL 17 1997 A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. A SLOW MOVING UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WAS LOCATED IN NORTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA THIS AFTERNOON. THIS SYSTEM SHOWED UP AS A SMALL CIRCULATION CENTER ON SATELLITE IMAGERY...AND CONTINUED TO SUPPORT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS OSAGE AND PAWNEE COUNTIES AT 100 PM. THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SLOWLY SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A RAIN-COOLED BOUNDARY...CREATED BY THE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS OSAGE AND PAWNEE COUNTIES...WAS LOCATED FROM NEAR JAY TO WAGONER TO OKEMAH EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THIS BOUNDARY WILL REMAIN STATIONARY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS. THE BEST CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM AND ALONG THE RAIN-COOLED BOUNDARY. THE AIRMASS WILL BE VERY UNSTABLE IN MOST AREAS THIS AFTERNOON...AND SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. ALTHOUGH THE EFFECTS OF THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM WILL REMAIN CONFINED TO EASTERN OKLAHOMA...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE OVER NORTHWEST ARKANSAS MAINLY DURING THE HEAT OF THE AFTERNOON. THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST ARKANSAS WILL DIMINISH AFTER SUNSET...WHILE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS COULD LINGER INTO THE NIGHT OVER EASTERN OKLAHOMA. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE SLOW MOVING...SO IN ADDITION TO THE THREAT OF LARGE HAIL AND STRONG DAMAGING WINDS...VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCIES AND STORM SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 17, 3:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Carroll | 50 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 1997Every 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.