Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 6, 1998Crawford County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 6, 1998, 7:34 PM CDT for Crawford County, Arkansas. It was in force for 56 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: May 6, 1998, 7:34 PM CDT (00:34 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 1998, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Crawford County, AR

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 35 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:35 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
May 6, 7:35 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Chester, AR	Reported at Artist Point
May 6, 7:39 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Chester, AR	A tornado was reported over Lake Fort Smith. Amateur video captured this wide-funnelled storm as it moved across the hilly terrain of northern Crawford County. Path length and width are estimated.
May 6, 7:49 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Chester, AR	Reported at Lake Shepherd Springs
May 6, 8:33 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Cedarville, AR

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 6, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 151 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: 1358 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1166 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

942 
WFUS54 KTSA 070035 RRA
TORTUL
ARC033-070130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
734 PM CDT WED MAY 6 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  NORTHEASTERN CRAWFORD COUNTY - NORTHWESTERN ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT

* AT 730 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION JUST NORTHEAST OF CHESTER.
  A TORNADO COULD FORM AT ANY TIME AS THIS STORM MOVES NORTHEAST AT
  15 MPH.

* THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...


LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY
THIS STORM. MOVE TO A SAFE PLACE IMMEDIATELY

THE SAFEST PLACE IN A TORNADO IS BELOW GROUND. IF A BASEMENT OR
STORM CELLAR IS NOT AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR. GET UNDER SOMETHING STURDY AND USE BLANKETS AND
PILLOWS TO PROTECT YOUR HEAD AND BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS. AVOID
WINDOWS AND LARGE ROOMS. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND AUTOMOBILES FOR
MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AS A LAST RESORT TAKE COVER IN A DITCH.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Washington	59 min
May 6, 7:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Franklin	62 min
May 6, 7:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Madison	38 min
May 6, 8:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Washington	44 min
May 6, 8:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Crawford	45 min
May 6, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Carroll, Madison	50 min
May 6, 8:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	65 min
May 6, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin	45 min
May 6, 8:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Sebastian	38 min
May 6, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

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.