Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 124

April 15, 200321 counties in Oklahoma; 7 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 15, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT for 21 counties in Oklahoma; 7 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 15, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: Apr 16, 2003, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 28 counties

Carter County, OK, Cleveland County, OK, Coal County, OK, Creek County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Hughes County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Johnston County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Logan County, OK, Love County, OK, Marshall County, OK, McClain County, OK, Murray County, OK, Okfuskee County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Seminole County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Clay County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Denton County, TX, Grayson County, TX, Jack County, TX, Montague County, TX, Wise County, TX

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:03 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.

Warnings issued inside it

10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Clay	41 min
Apr 15, 10:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Montague	62 min
Apr 15, 10:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Clay	46 min
Apr 15, 11:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Cleveland, Oklahoma	40 min
Apr 15, 11:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jefferson	46 min
Apr 15, 11:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Lincoln, Pottawatomie	48 min
Apr 16, 12:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter	30 min
Apr 16, 12:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek	45 min
Apr 16, 12:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek, Osage	32 min
Apr 16, 1:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Okfuskee	44 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -337 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1137 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 380 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 627 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 160202
SEL4
SPC WW 160200
OKZ000-TXZ000-160700-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 124
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
900 PM CDT TUE APR 15 2003

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA                           
   NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 900 PM
UNTIL 200 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 55 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 95 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF ARDMORE OKLAHOMA TO 60
MILES NORTHEAST OF OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 119...WW 120...WW
121...WW 122...WW 123...

DISCUSSION...INSTABILITY REMAINS MARGINAL EWD INTO CENTRAL OK/N-
CENTRAL TX...HOWEVER VERY STRONG LARGE SCALE ASCENT /EVIDENCED BY
LARGE PRESSURE FALLS THIS EVENING/ WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA LATE
THIS EVENING AND EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.  GIVEN THE EXTREME SHEAR
EVIDENT ON AREA PROFILERS/VWPS...AND THE MAINTENANCE OF DISCRETE
SUPERCELLS WITHIN BROKEN SQUALL LINE NOW MOVING OVER SWRN OK/NWRN
TX...THE THREAT OF ISOLATED TORNADOES MAY SPREAD ACROSS WW DURING
THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.  HAIL AND ISOLATED DAMAGING WINDS WILL ALSO
ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24050.


...EVANS

330,0983 360,0974 360,0955 330,0964

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 7:11 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Comanche, Harmon, Jackson, Tillman	2 hr
Apr 15, 8:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Carter, Cleveland, Creek, Garvin, Grady, Jefferson and 16 more	115 min
Apr 15, 9:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alfalfa, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 10 more	86 min
Apr 15, 11:00 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Cotton, Creek and 21 more	2 hr
Apr 15, 11:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Haskell and 17 more	6 hr
Apr 16, 2:01 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, Latimer and 12 more	119 min
Apr 16, 1:41 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brown, Comanche, Coryell, Erath, Hamilton, Kimble and 8 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2003 Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003 Every tornado watch 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.