Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 52, NWS Tulsa, OK

September 8, 1997Pawnee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Sep 8, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT for Pawnee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 60 min. 1 report 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: Sep 8, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC)
Expired: Sep 8, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Pawnee County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:00 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
Sep 8, 5:20 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Ralston, OK	An isolated severe thunderstorm developed in western Osage County during the afternoon of September 8th and moved south into Pawnee County. The storm produced 2 brief tornadoes in open country. The tornadoes touched down at 1545CST 5 miles north of Fairfax and

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

Lamont, OK (KLMN), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 78 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: 296 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -292 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1831 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 190 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 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 082201 RRA
TORTUL
OKC117-082300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
500 PM CDT MON SEP 8 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA
 
   ...WESTERN PAWNEE COUNTY
 
AT 500 PM...RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS INDICATED A TORNADO JUST NORTH OF
FAIRFAX. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE SOUTH AT 15 MILES AN HOUR. THIS
STORM WILL APPROACH THE RALSTON BY 515 PM. SKEDEE AND PAWNEE ARE ALSO IN
THE PATH OF THIS STORM. HAIL TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS IS ALSO LIKELY WITH
THIS STORM.
 
 
IF YOU ARE AT WORK OR IN A SCHOOL OR STORE...AVOID LARGE ROOMS.
INSTjEAD GO TO SMALL INTERIOR ROOMS OR HALLWAYS ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 8, 4:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Osage	58 min
Sep 8, 4:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Osage	52 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.