Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 273, NWS Norman, OK

June 12, 2002Alfalfa County, Woods County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 12, 2002, 5:59 PM CDT for Alfalfa County, Woods County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 61 min. 7 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 12, 2002, 5:59 PM CDT (22:59 UTC)
Expired: Jun 12, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Alfalfa County, OK, Woods County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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
Jun 12, 6:03 PM CDT	Hail 1	Alva, OK
Jun 12, 6:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 M	Alva, OK	Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
Jun 12, 6:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61 M	Alva, OK	Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
Jun 12, 6:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 64 M	Alva, OK	Wind was measured by the Oklahoma mesonet.
Jun 12, 6:42 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Dacoma, OK
Jun 12, 6:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Alva, OK	A tower was blown over.
Jun 12, 7:05 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Dacoma, 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 12, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

W. Woodward Airport, OK (KWWR), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 84 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: 1281 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1130 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 179 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KOUN 122259
SVROKC
OKC003-151-130000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
556 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ALFALFA COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA
  WOODS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* AT 556 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10   
MILES SOUTHWEST OF ALVA...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.  ANOTHER LARGE 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS IN NORTHERN WOODS COUNTY FROM NEAR 
ALVA...EXTENDING NORTHWEST TO THE KANSAS LINE. THIS STORM WAS MOVING 
SLOWLY EAST AT 10 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE ALVA...AVARD...BURLINGTON...
  BYRON...CAPRON...CHEROKEE...DACOMA...DRIFTWOOD...INGERSOLL AND
  LAMBERT

HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLFBALLS IS LIKELY WITH THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH NO ADVANCE WARNING.
MOVE IMMEDIATELY TO A STORM SHELTER... BASEMENT OR STURDY BUILDING IF
A TORNADO IS SIGHTED.

LAT...LON 3697 9902 3662 9891 3669 9822 3697 9832

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 12, 3:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 12, 3:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
315 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

FRONT SLOWLY SLIDING INTO THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. NO CONVECTION
ALONG FRONT YET...BUT CU ON VIS SAT IMAGERY BUILDING ON FRONT.
EXPECT A FAIR AMOUNT OF SVR STORMS WITH HIGH CAPE VALUES AND 20KT+
GROUND-RELATIVE FLOW AT MOST LEVELS. AS STORMS WEAKEN SOME AFTER
MIDNIGHT...MAIN HAZARD WILL SHIFT TO VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...MAINLY
ACROSS NORTHERN OKLAHOMA ALONG BAROCLINIC ZONE...ENHANCED BY COLD
POOL FROM EARLIER CONVECTION. MODELS FORECAST STRONG LIFT AND HEAVY
QPF WITH DEEP MOISTURE. LAST WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAIN EVENT SOMEWHAT
OVERFORECAST BY MODELS BUT STILL EXPECT WIDESPREAD 1-3 INCH AMOUNTS
ACROSS NORTHERN 2/3RDS OF CWA BY LATE THURSDAY. HEAVY RAINFALL LAST
NIGHT CONFINED TO FAR NE ZONES BUT FFG VALUES SHOULD BE MET IN OTHER
AREAS AS WELL.

EXPECT LITTLE VARIATION IN TEMPS THURS UNTIL BREAKS IN CLOUDS AND
PRECIP APPEAR. FWC TEMPS ARE VERY WARM IN FAR SRN SECTIONS TOMORROW
... BELIEVE PRECIP AND CLOUDS WILL REACH THERE BEFORE GOING INTO THE
90S.

LATER PERIODS APPEAR QUIET AT FIRST GLANCE BUT BEWARE THE NW FLOW.
LEE TROUGH DEVELOPS BY FRIDAY RETURNING SLY FLOW ACROSS WRN ZONES BY
SAT. COULD SEE MCS DEVELOP SAT NIGHT ACROSS HIGH PLAINS ROLLING INTO
OK AFTER DARK. GOOD WAA PATTERN SUPPORTING THIS OVERNIGHT AND INTO
SUN MORNING ESP ON AVN. GOING POPS LOOK GOOD. TRIMMED THEM BACK TO
SLT CHC FOR SUN NIGHT AND MON AS LATEST AVN PROGS SHOW BETTER
DEFINED S/W MOVING OUT BEFORE THEN. NW FLOW PATTERN PROGRESSES EAST
LATER IN THE WEEK SO KEPT FORECAST DRY. TEMPS SHOULD RETURN STAY
NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL.

FCSTID = 13

OKC  71 81 62 82 /  60 80 10 10
HBR  71 82 61 83 /  50 60 20 10
SPS  75 87 65 85 /  30 60 30 10
GAG  66 80 57 80 /  80 40 10 10
PNC  67 79 59 80 /  70 70 10 10
DUA  75 87 65 83 /  20 80 30 10

.OKC...
OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING ZONES
OKZ004>036-OKZ038-OKZ040-OKZ042-OKZ043.
TX...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 12, 4:13 PM CDT, 1 hour 46 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
413 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0413 PM    BLACKWELL                 OK   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            REPORTED BY EM

Local storm report, Jun 12, 4:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
425 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0425 PM    BLACKWELL                 OK   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            REPORTED BY EM

KT

Local storm report, Jun 12, 4:38 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
438 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0435 PM    4 N CAMP HOUSTON          OK   .75 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   WOODS                          PUBLIC REPORT

KT

Local storm report, Jun 12, 4:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
446 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0445 PM    BLACKWELL                 OK   .88 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            REPORTED BY EM

KT

Local storm report, Jun 12, 5:17 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
517 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0502 PM    BLACKWELL                 OK   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            REPORTED BY TONKAWA EM

0517 PM    7 E BLACKWELL             OK   .88 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            REPORTED BY TONKAWA EM

KT

Local storm report, Jun 12, 5:24 PM CDT, 35 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
524 PM CDT WED JUN 12 2002

TIME (CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0520 PM    PONCA CITY                OK   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   KAY                            SPOTTER REPORT

0523 PM    14 N CAMP HOUSTON         OK   1.75 INCH HAIL
06/12/02   WOODS                          PUBLIC REPORTED PING
                                          PONG BALL TO GOLF BALL
                                          SIZED HAIL

KT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 12, 3:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	48 min
Jun 12, 4:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woods	47 min
Jun 12, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	47 min
Jun 12, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Ellis	51 min
Jun 12, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woods	45 min
Jun 12, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	47 min
Jun 12, 6:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woodward	40 min
Jun 12, 6:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	45 min
Jun 12, 6:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Kay	3 hr
Jun 12, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woodward	59 min
Jun 12, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Major, Woods	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oklahoma, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.