Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 15, 2003Beaver County, Oklahoma

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 9:57 PM CDT for Beaver County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 63 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, 9:57 PM CDT (02:57 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Beaver County, OK

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:00 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, 6:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 351 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -254 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 723 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 417 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 695 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.

874 
WFUS54 KAMA 160257
TORAMA
OKC007-160400-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1100 PM CDT

* AT 957 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS
  PORTION OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF BALKO...OR
  ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BEAVER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  BEAVER...SLAPOUT...MOCANE...KNOWLES...FORGAN...FLORIS...
  ELMWOOD...BOYD AND BALKO.

THE BEAVER COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED POWERLINES DOWN AND CARS BLOWN
INTO DITCHES NEAR BRYANS CORNER FROM A POSSIBLE TORNADO.

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO-IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW


LAT...LON 3666 10088 3654 10072 3652 10003 3699 10005
          3697 10085

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Texas	61 min
May 15, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron	60 min
May 15, 8:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Texas	61 min
May 15, 9:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Beaver	56 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.