Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 35, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Jun 16, 1997, 5:09 PM CDT for McIntosh County, Okfuskee County, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 51 min. 4 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
- Jun 16, 1997, 5:09 PM CDT (22:09 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 16, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties McIntosh County, OK, Okfuskee County, OK, Okmulgee County, OK
The radar
The Tulsa radar (KINX), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 16, 5:10 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Pharoah, OK | |
| Jun 16, 5:35 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Henryetta, OK | |
| Jun 16, 5:45 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Stidham, OK | |
| Jun 16, 6:10 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Eufaula, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 16, 4:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 132 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
- 2808 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 554 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 48 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 50 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 3.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTUL 162211 RRA TORTUL OKC091-107-111-162300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 509 PM CDT MON JUN 16 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA ...WESTERN MCINTOSH COUNTY...EASTERN OKFUSKEE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA ...SOUTHERN OKMULGEE COUNTY AT 507 PM NWS DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO FORMING IN EASTERN OKFUSKEE COUNTY...3 MILES NORTH OF WELEETKA MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. THIS STORM WILL MOVE JUST SOUTH OF I-40 TO THE SOUTH OF HENRYETTA. 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 16, 1:07 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Osage | 53 min |
| Jun 16, 1:46 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Washington | 29 min |
| Jun 16, 2:08 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Nowata | 52 min |
| Jun 16, 3:15 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Tulsa | 45 min |
| Jun 16, 7:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Tulsa | 31 min |
| Jun 16, 7:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Wagoner | 50 min |
| Jun 16, 4:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Okfuskee, Okmulgee | 49 min |
| Jun 16, 5:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | LeFlore | 44 min |
| Jun 16, 5:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Latimer | 29 min |
| Jun 16, 5:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Pittsburg | 44 min |
| Jun 16, 5:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | McIntosh | 53 min |
| Jun 16, 5:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | LeFlore | 45 min |
| Jun 16, 5:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Haskell, Latimer | 56 min |
| Jun 16, 6:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | LeFlore | 43 min |
| Jun 16, 6:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Okmulgee | 51 min |
| Jun 16, 6:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Haskell, Pittsburg | 43 min |
| Jun 16, 6:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Sequoyah | 40 min |
| Jun 16, 6:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Osage, Pawnee | 52 min |
| Jun 16, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | McIntosh, Muskogee | 48 min |
| Jun 16, 6:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Haskell | 46 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.