Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Norman, OK

April 30, 2003Grant County, Oklahoma

NWS Norman, OK issued this tornado warning at Apr 30, 2003, 10:40 PM CDT for Grant County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 35 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: Apr 30, 2003, 10:40 PM CDT (03:40 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 2003, 11:15 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Norman, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Grant County, OK

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:42 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.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 30, 6:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr
Apr 30, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 183 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: 2775 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1288 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 82 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KOUN 010340
TOROKC
OKC053-010415-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
1039 PM CDT WED APR 30 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  GRANT COUNTY IN NORTHERN OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 1115 PM CDT

* AT 1039 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS DETECTED BY DOPPLER RADAR 4 MILES   
SOUTHWEST OF MEDFORD...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.  THIS IS A DANGEROUS 
AND POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING SITUATION.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE MEDFORD AND RENFROW

TORNADOES ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS AT NIGHT BECAUSE THEY ARE HARD TO
SEE. TAKE COVER NOW. IF A BASEMENT IS NOT AVAILABLE...MOVE TO AN
INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. LEAVE MOBILE HOMES AND
VEHICLES FOR REINFORCED SHELTER. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3679 9796 3666 9780 3690 9745 3706 9765

$$
ANDRA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 30, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Custer	48 min
Apr 30, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Blaine, Dewey, Major	34 min
Apr 30, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	36 min
Apr 30, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	40 min
Apr 30, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	47 min
Apr 30, 9:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Grant	49 min
Apr 30, 10:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	32 min
Apr 30, 10:21 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Grant	114 min
Apr 30, 11:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Grant	45 min
Apr 30, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	40 min
May 1, 12:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kay	63 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.