Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 20, 2001Pittsburg County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2001, 7:43 PM CDT for Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 62 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: May 20, 2001, 7:43 PM CDT (00:43 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2001, 8:45 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Pittsburg County, OK

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:42 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
May 20, 7:50 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Ashland, OK
May 20, 8:00 PM CDT	Hail 1	Savanna, OK
May 20, 8:00 PM CDT	Hail 1	Kiowa, OK
May 20, 8:05 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Blanco, 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
May 20, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 156 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: 2068 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1431 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 13.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KTSA 210045
TORTUL
OKC121-210145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
743 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN PITTSBURG COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 845 PM CDT

* AT 743 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 10
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF ASHLAND...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. STORM SPOTTERS 
REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND WITH THIS STORM NEAR TUPELO IN COAL 
COUNTY. THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION...TAKE COVER NOW

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...ALDERSON...
  HAYWOOD...HARTSHORNE...SAVANNA...ASHLAND...BLANCO AND KIOWA.

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

IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO...TENNIS BALL SIZED HAIL OR LARGER AND 
DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. GO TO 
A SAFE PLACE NOW

LAT...LON 3489 9553 3489 9553 3458 9552 3468 9609
          3480 9608 3491 9608

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	60 min
May 20, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Nowata	54 min
May 20, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore, Sequoyah	63 min
May 20, 7:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell	44 min
May 20, 7:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Ottawa	28 min
May 20, 7:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer	55 min
May 20, 7:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Rogers	67 min
May 20, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Tulsa, Washington	45 min
May 20, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Craig	43 min
May 20, 7:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Okfuskee, Okmulgee	51 min
May 20, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Wagoner	42 min
May 20, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Cherokee	67 min
May 20, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh	51 min
May 20, 8:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer, LeFlore	56 min
May 20, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Mayes	63 min
May 20, 8:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Muskogee	26 min
May 20, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell	44 min
May 20, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	60 min
May 20, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer	41 min
May 20, 9:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell	40 min
May 20, 9:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	46 min
May 20, 10:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Muskogee	56 min
May 20, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pushmataha	62 min
May 20, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer	50 min
May 20, 10:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh	51 min
May 20, 10:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	59 min
May 20, 10:52 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Haskell, LeFlore, Sequoyah	113 min
May 20, 11:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	54 min
May 20, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	38 min
May 20, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell	44 min
May 20, 11:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	45 min
May 20, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer	55 min
May 20, 11:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	49 min
May 21, 12:03 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	27 min
May 21, 12:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg, Pushmataha	45 min
May 21, 1:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pushmataha	62 min
May 21, 2:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pushmataha	64 min
May 21, 2:29 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Pushmataha	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.