Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 56, NWS Tulsa, OK

September 21, 1998Osage County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Sep 21, 1998, 8:47 PM CDT for Osage County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 28 min. 4 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Sep 21, 1998, 8:47 PM CDT (01:47 UTC)
Expired: Sep 21, 1998, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Osage County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:47 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
Sep 21, 8:56 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Burbank, OK
Sep 21, 8:56 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Burbank, OK
Sep 21, 9:10 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Fairfax, OK
Sep 21, 9:12 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Fairfax, 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
Sep 21, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 174 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: 562 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 277 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 16.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

142 
WFUS54 KTSA 220150 RRA
TORTUL
OKC113-220215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
847 PM CDT MON SEP 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     WESTERN OSAGE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 915 PM CDT

* AT 847 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG
  ROTATION 5 MILES SOUTH OF APPERSON. MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES PER
  HOUR...THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...  APPERSON...
  BURBANK...TALLANT...PERSHING...FAIRFAX AND WYNONA

IN ADDITION TO THE THREAT OF A TORNADO...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
STRAIGHT LINE WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. GO TO A SAFE
PLACE NOW

IF YOU ARE IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...TAKE COVER NOW IF
NO UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR MORE
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

LAT...LON 3679 9680 3662 9689 3640 9627 3661 9617

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 21, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage	52 min
Sep 21, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek	44 min
Sep 21, 9:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Osage	34 min
Sep 21, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pawnee	52 min
Sep 21, 9:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek, Tulsa	40 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 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.