Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 99, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 2, 1997Osage County, Pawnee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 2, 1997, 12:09 AM CDT for Osage County, Pawnee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 51 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 2, 1997, 12:09 AM CDT (05:09 UTC)
Expired
May 2, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Tulsa, OK
Area
Whole counties

Counties Osage County, OK, Pawnee County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:10 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 2, 12:30 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Fairfax, OK
May 2, 12:40 AM CDTHail 0.88Pawnee, OK
May 2, 12:56 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Pawnee, 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 1, 10:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 5.2 hours before the alert went out and 159 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1997-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 1997-05-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 179 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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 020510 RRA
SVRTUL
OKC113-117-020600-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
1209 AM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  100 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...WESTERN OSAGE COUNTY...PAWNEE COUNTY
 
AT 1209 AM...RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING
FROM NEAR PONCA CITY TO NEAR PERRY. THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST
AT 35 MPH.
 
BURBANK...FAIRFAX...AND PAWNEE ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
DAMAGING WINDS WITH GUSTS UP TO 65 MPH WILL OCCUR WITH THIS LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS.  IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY IN THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR BUILDING OR HOME.  STAY
AWAY FROM OUTSIDE WALLS AND WINDOWS.  IF YOU ARE IN A MOBILE HOME
YOU SHOULD MOVE TO A MORE SUBSTANTIAL STRUCTURE IF ONE IS NEARBY.
 
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 FO
R 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, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 8:56 PM CDT, 3 hours 13 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.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 12:55 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACreek, Osage, Pawnee, Tulsa65 min
May 2, 12:55 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAWashington65 min
May 2, 2:07 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACreek53 min
May 2, 2:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAOkmulgee, Tulsa44 min
May 2, 2:46 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAMuskogee, Wagoner44 min
May 2, 3:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACherokee, Muskogee30 min
May 2, 12:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACraig39 min
May 2, 4:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAHaskell49 min
May 2, 4:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSALeFlore45 min
May 2, 4:47 PM CDTTornado WarningTSALeFlore28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oklahoma, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.