Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 15, 2003Cimarron County, Oklahoma

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 5:45 PM CDT for Cimarron County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 60 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, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cimarron County, OK

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 171 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:47 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 172 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.

498 
WFUS54 KAMA 152245
TORAMA
OKC025-152345-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN CIMARRON COUNTY IN THE PANHANDLE OF OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 545 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS
  PORTION OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 14 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRIGGS...OR
  ABOUT 16 MILES NORTHWEST OF STRATFORD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  KEYES AND GRIGGS

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME-TAKE COVER NOW ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3647 10248 3649 10226 3649 10206 3709 10202
          3722 10226

$$

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, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Texas	64 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.