Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Norman, OK

March 15, 2000Alfalfa County, Grant County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this tornado warning at Mar 15, 2000, 4:49 PM CST for Alfalfa County, Grant County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 26 min. 1 report 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: Mar 15, 2000, 4:49 PM CST (22:49 UTC)
Expired: Mar 15, 2000, 5:15 PM CST
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Alfalfa County, OK, Grant County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:53 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
Mar 15, 5:20 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Wakita, 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
Mar 15, 3:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lamont, OK (KLMN), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 54 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 146 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 
WFUS54 KOUN 152251
TOROKC
OKC003-053-152315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
449 PM CST WED MAR 15 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  GRANT COUNTY IN NORTHERN OKLAHOMA
  ALFALFA COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 515 PM CST

* AT 449 PM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
  CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS PORTION OF THE
  STORM WAS LOCATED 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WAKITA...MOVING EAST AT 20
  MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE JEFFERSON AND WAKITA

DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANYTIME. TAKE
COVER NOW. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR
ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3689 9817 3677 9819 3670 9778 3697 9780

ANDRA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 3:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woods	37 min
Mar 15, 3:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa	36 min
Mar 15, 3:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa	50 min
Mar 15, 4:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Major	42 min
Mar 15, 4:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	42 min
Mar 15, 4:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Dewey	42 min
Mar 15, 4:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Roger Mills	30 min
Mar 15, 5:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Major	42 min
Mar 15, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Dewey	51 min
Mar 15, 5:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	33 min
Mar 15, 5:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa	47 min
Mar 15, 5:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Roger Mills	24 min
Mar 15, 5:48 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	42 min
Mar 15, 5:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Custer, Dewey, Roger Mills	49 min
Mar 15, 5:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Alfalfa	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

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.