Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 15, 2003Texas County, Oklahoma

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 6:11 PM CDT for Texas County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 64 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 2003, 6:11 PM CDT (23:11 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Texas County, OK

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 167 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:12 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.

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 15, 1:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 95 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -275 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1781 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

789 
WFUS54 KAMA 152311
TORAMA
OKC139-160015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
609 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  TEXAS COUNTY IN THE PANHANDLE OF OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 609 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS
  PORTION OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED OVER EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN CIMARRON
  COUNTY...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.  THE STORM WILL PASS OVER HIGHWAYS
  64 AND 95.

MOTORISTS SHOULD LOOK FOR SHELTER IN A SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING. AS A
LAST RESORT...TAKE COVER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

LAT...LON 3681 10197 3650 10202 3653 10102 3701 10111

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 3:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Cimarron	54 min
May 15, 4:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron	41 min
May 15, 4:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron, Texas	51 min
May 15, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron	60 min
May 15, 6:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.