Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 26, 1997Tulsa County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT for Tulsa County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 45 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 26, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT (00:15 UTC)
Expired: May 26, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Tulsa County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:16 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
May 26, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Glenpool, OK
May 26, 7:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Bixby, OK
May 26, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 2	Glenpool, 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 26, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 3123 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1331 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 271 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 14.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

401 
WFUS1 KTUL 270016 RRA
TORTUL
OKC143-270100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
715 PM CDT MON MAY 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...SOUTHERN TULSA COUNTY
 
AT 7 13 PM SPOTTERS AND RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO BETWEEN GLENPOOL AND
BIXBY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR. BIXBY AND BROKEN ARROW ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO.
 
IF YOU LIVE IN THIS AREA...TAKE COVER NOW. DO NOT DELAY
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
STAY AWAY FROM OUTSIDE WALLS AND AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND
MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET IN A GROUND DEPRESSION.
 
KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 7:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Okmulgee	27 min
May 26, 7:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Okfuskee, Okmulgee	42 min
May 26, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage	55 min
May 26, 7:29 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Tulsa	3 hr
May 26, 7:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Okmulgee	59 min
May 26, 7:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Wagoner	54 min
May 26, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage, Washington	52 min
May 26, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Nowata	52 min
May 26, 7:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Muskogee	43 min
May 26, 7:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh	56 min
May 26, 7:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	McIntosh	48 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Nowata	51 min
May 26, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Craig	45 min
May 26, 8:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Muskogee	54 min
May 26, 8:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	52 min
May 26, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee, Wagoner	40 min
May 26, 8:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Ottawa	52 min
May 26, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh	28 min
May 26, 8:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Craig	50 min
May 26, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Ottawa	55 min
May 26, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Adair, Cherokee, Delaware	66 min
May 26, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	66 min
May 26, 9:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell, Pittsburg	60 min
May 26, 9:22 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Ottawa	2 hr
May 26, 9:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	59 min
May 26, 9:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer	63 min
May 26, 10:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	49 min
May 26, 10:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	29 min
May 26, 10:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	53 min
May 26, 11:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	30 min
May 26, 11:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	36 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.