Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 371

May 14, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 14, 2003, 2:30 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 14, 2003, 2:30 PM CDT (19:30 UTC)
Expired
May 14, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 39 counties

Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Clark County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Hempstead County, AR, Howard County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Little River County, AR, Miller County, AR, Nevada County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Pike County, AR, Sevier County, AR, Union County, AR, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, Choctaw County, OK, McCurtain County, OK, Pushmataha County, OK, Bowie County, TX, Camp County, TX, Cass County, TX, Delta County, TX, Franklin County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Lamar County, TX, Marion County, TX, Morris County, TX, Red River County, TX, Titus County, TX, Upshur County, TX, Wood County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:33 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 14, 2:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAPushmataha67 min
May 14, 2:59 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningSHVHoward, Sevier4 hr
May 14, 3:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVHempstead, Howard53 min
May 14, 3:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVSevier39 min
May 14, 3:55 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLZKPike95 min
May 14, 4:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVMcCurtain57 min
May 14, 4:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVLittle River63 min
May 14, 5:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVLafayette, Miller64 min
May 14, 5:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVColumbia56 min
May 14, 6:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVClaiborne, Webster58 min
May 14, 7:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVLincoln60 min
May 14, 7:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAPushmataha58 min
May 14, 7:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVMcCurtain54 min
May 14, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVOuachita62 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

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 137 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2003-05-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 480 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2003-05-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
480 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-383 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
842 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 141928
SEL1  
SPC WW 141930
ARZ000-LAZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-150100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 371 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
230 PM CDT WED MAY 14 2003

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

       SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS
       NORTHERN LOUISIANA
       EXTREME SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
       NORTHEAST TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 230 PM UNTIL
800 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES WEST OF PARIS TEXAS TO 45 MILES EAST
OF EL DORADO ARKANSAS.

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 368...WW 369...WW 370...


DISCUSSION...SURFACE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY EXTENDS FROM NEAR ADM TO NEAR
SHV.  AIRMASS ALONG AND NORTH OF BOUNDARY IS VERY MOIST...WITH
BACKED LOW LEVEL WINDS AND MODERATE INSTABILITY.  PRESENT
INDICATIONS ARE THAT ISOLATED SEVERE/SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS WILL
DEVELOP IN THIS REGION DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS.  LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING WINDS WOULD BE THE MAIN THREAT...BUT SUFFICIENT LOW LEVEL
SHEAR AND LOW LCLS ALSO INDICATE THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27030.


...HART

342,0954 340,0920 322,0920 324,0954

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 13, 8:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColumbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Miller, Nevada55 min
May 14, 5:50 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHoward, Little River, Miller, Sevier115 min
May 14, 10:26 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDesha, Phillips94 min
May 14, 10:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColumbia, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller and 3 more2 hr
May 14, 11:10 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCPhillips6 hr
May 14, 5:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColumbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Nevada and 1 more118 min
May 14, 6:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAshley, Columbia, Lafayette, Nevada, Union6 hr
May 13, 8:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne and 15 more5 hr
May 13, 10:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, De Soto and 11 more5 hr
May 13, 9:58 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Custer and 20 more3 hr
May 13, 10:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian and 39 more7 hr
May 14, 1:34 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Coal and 32 more116 min
May 14, 3:49 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter and 38 more116 min
May 14, 4:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlfalfa, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter and 23 more5 hr
May 14, 7:40 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Bryan, Carter, Comanche, Cotton, Custer and 11 more95 min
May 14, 3:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCotton, Jefferson, Love, Tillman2 hr
May 14, 4:52 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Noble, Payne and 1 more113 min
May 14, 6:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGreer, Harmon, Jackson2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 2003Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 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.