Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 20, NWS Tulsa, OK
NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 6, 1998, 8:15 PM CDT for Crawford County, Arkansas; Sequoyah 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 6, 1998, 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 1998, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tulsa, OK
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Crawford County, AR, Sequoyah County, OK
The radar
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 31 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:17 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, 8:32 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Muldrow, OK | |
| May 6, 8:33 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Cedarville, AR | |
| May 6, 8:50 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Alma, AR | Roof damage to a building along US Hwy 71 between mile marker 15 and 17 in Crawford County. |
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 |
| May 6, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 164 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
168 WFUS54 KTSA 070116 RRA TORTUL ARC033-OKC135-070200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 815 PM CDT WED MAY 6 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CRAWFORD COUNTY - NORTHWESTERN ARKANSAS NORTHEASTERN SEQUOYAH COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA * UNTIL 900 PM CDT * AT 812 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION JUST NORTH OF SHORT. A TORNADO COULD FORM AT ANY TIME AS THIS STORM MOVES EAST AT 20 MPH. TAKE SHELTER NOW DONT WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING MOVE TO AN UNDERGROUND SHELTER OR TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. 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, 7:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Crawford | 56 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, 8:25 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 |
| May 6, 7:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Delaware | 54 min |
| May 6, 7:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Haskell | 80 min |
| May 6, 7:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Adair, Cherokee | 58 min |
| May 6, 7:46 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Adair | 29 min |
| May 6, 8:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Adair | 25 min |
| May 6, 8:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Haskell | 36 min |
| May 6, 8:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TSA | Muskogee, Okmulgee | 33 min |
| May 6, 8:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | LeFlore | 42 min |
| May 6, 8:30 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Pittsburg | 45 min |
| May 6, 8:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | Muskogee | 26 min |
| May 6, 8:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TSA | LeFlore | 34 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1998Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.