Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 234
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 4, 2003, 3:00 PM CDT for 12 counties in Oklahoma; 25 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 4, 2003, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
- Expired
- May 4, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties
Atoka County, OK, Bryan County, OK, Carter County, OK, Choctaw County, OK, Coal County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Johnston County, OK, Love County, OK, Marshall County, OK, Murray County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pushmataha County, OK, Collin County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Delta County, TX, Denton County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Erath County, TX, Fannin County, TX, Grayson County, TX, Hood County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Jack County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Lamar County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Rains County, TX, Rockwall County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Van Zandt County, TX, Wise County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 4, 3:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Wise | 45 min |
| May 4, 4:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Cooke | 57 min |
| May 4, 4:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Pontotoc | 51 min |
| May 4, 4:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Coal | 32 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
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 45 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1425 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -324 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 660 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 265 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 384 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 042000
SEL4
SPC WW 042000
OKZ000-TXZ000-050200-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 234
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
300 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS
EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 300 PM UNTIL 900
PM CDT.
...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTH OF FORT WORTH TEXAS TO 60 MILES
NORTH NORTHEAST OF DURANT 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 231...WW 232...WW 233...
DISCUSSION...CAP CONTINUES TO ERODE ALONG DRY LINE OVER S-CENTRAL OK
AND NRN TX. STORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP QUICKLY...AND SHOULD EVOLVE
INTO SUPERCELLS RAPIDLY. STRONG INSTABILITY AND DEEP LAYER SHEAR
SUPPORT A THREAT OF VERY LARGE HAIL ALONG WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR
ISOLATED STRONG TORNADOES.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26030.
...EVANS
320,0984 344,0972 344,0943 320,0960SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 8:05 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 14 more | 6 hr |
| May 3, 10:00 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 12 more | 2 hr |
| May 4, 11:44 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Cherokee, Coal, Craig, Creek and 27 more | 3 hr |
| May 4, 12:35 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Haskell and 22 more | 6 hr |
| May 4, 2:16 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bryan, Johnston, Love, Marshall, Murray | 119 min |
| May 4, 3:05 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, McIntosh and 9 more | 115 min |
| May 4, 4:43 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Craig, Nowata, Ottawa | 2 hr |
| May 4, 5:20 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Haskell, LeFlore, Ottawa and 1 more | 55 min |
| May 4, 6:05 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, Latimer and 5 more | 7 hr |
| May 4, 6:28 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston and 5 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2003Every 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.