Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 388
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 15, 2003, 11:35 PM CDT for 4 counties in Kansas; 19 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 15, 2003, 11:35 PM CDT (04:35 UTC)
- Expired
- May 16, 2003, 4:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 23 counties
Barber County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Harper County, KS, Alfalfa County, OK, Beckham County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Canadian County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Grady County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harper County, OK, Kingfisher County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Major County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK
The radar
The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:38 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
15 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 11:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper, Woods, Woodward | 38 min |
| May 15, 11:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper, Woods, Woodward | 52 min |
| May 15, 11:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Custer, Dewey, Roger Mills, Washita | 81 min |
| May 16, 12:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Greer, Harmon | 25 min |
| May 16, 12:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC | Barber, Pratt | 46 min |
| May 16, 12:28 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Alfalfa, Major, Woods, Woodward | 47 min |
| May 16, 12:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson | 31 min |
| May 16, 12:44 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Blaine | 31 min |
| May 16, 12:57 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC | Barber, Pratt, Stafford | 48 min |
| May 16, 1:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Greer, Jackson, Kiowa | 44 min |
| May 16, 1:12 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Alfalfa, Blaine, Garfield, Grant, Kingfisher, Major | 48 min |
| May 16, 1:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Washita | 31 min |
| May 16, 1:22 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Major | 23 min |
| May 16, 1:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Caddo, Comanche, Kiowa, Washita | 45 min |
| May 16, 2:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Garfield, Grant, Kay, Kingfisher, Logan, Noble and 1 more | 59 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, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 174 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
- 1353 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -120 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1001 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 90 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 3.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 160447
SEL8
SPC WW 160435
KSZ000-OKZ000-160900-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 388
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1135 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
A SMALL PART OF SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS
WESTERN OKLAHOMA
EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 1135 PM
UNTIL 400 AM 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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF MEDICINE LODGE KANSAS TO
15 MILES WEST OF FORT SILL 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 386. WATCH NUMBER 386 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER
1135 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 387...
DISCUSSION...DESPITE CAPPING IN PLACE ACROSS WESTERN OK...STRONG
LARGE SCALE ASCENT COMBINED WITH VERY MOIST/CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE
AIR MASS WILL SUPPORT WIDESPREAD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. DEEP LAYER
SHEAR IN EXCESS OF 50 KT WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELLS...BOTH AHEAD OF AND
WITHIN BROKEN LINE OF STORMS NOW MOVING INTO WRN OK. ROTATING
UPDRAFTS WILL ALSO PERSIST INVOF MESO LOW TRACKING SLOWLY EWD ACROSS
FAR SRN KS. LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND LOW LCL/S REMAIN SUPPORTIVE OF A FEW
TORNADOES ACROSS THE REGION FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER 3-4 HOURS AS STORMS
REMAIN ROOTED NEAR THE VERY MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER.
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 26030.
...EVANS
372,0975 343,0973 343,0994 372,1002SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15, 7:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Decatur, Gove, Graham, Greeley, Lane and 11 more | 2 hr |
| May 15, 10:30 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barber, Clark, Comanche, Harper | 2 hr |
| May 16, 1:22 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barber, Chautauqua, Cowley, Harper, Kingman, Sumner | 53 min |
| May 16, 3:07 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Montgomery and 4 more | 53 min |
| May 16, 4:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho and 2 more | 56 min |
| May 15, 8:38 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cotton, Jackson, Jefferson, Stephens, Tillman | 2 hr |
| May 15, 10:25 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cotton, Jackson, Jefferson, Stephens, Tillman | 6 hr |
| May 15, 11:32 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cimarron, Texas | 118 min |
| May 15, 11:49 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cotton, Jackson, Jefferson, Stephens, Tillman | 86 min |
| May 16, 1:20 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Cleveland, Coal and 33 more | 6 hr |
| May 16, 2:33 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Cleveland, Coal and 16 more | 57 min |
| May 16, 4:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, LeFlore and 4 more | 5 hr |
| May 16, 5:22 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston, Latimer and 10 more | 53 min |
| May 16, 5:47 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Haskell, LeFlore, McCurtain and 2 more | 58 min |
| May 16, 6:35 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Haskell, LeFlore, McCurtain and 2 more | 25 min |
| May 16, 9:16 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Choctaw, Latimer, McCurtain, Pushmataha | 119 min |
| May 16, 11:35 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Creek, Garfield, Grady and 20 more | 2 hr |
| May 16, 12:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Canadian, Cherokee, Craig, Creek, Delaware and 23 more | 6 hr |
| May 16, 12:09 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore and 3 more | 3 hr |
| May 16, 12:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Haskell, Hughes and 10 more | 5 hr |
| May 16, 1:46 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Creek, Lincoln, Logan, McIntosh, Mayes and 12 more | 89 min |
| May 16, 3:18 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | LeFlore, McCurtain | 117 min |
| May 16, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair | 6 hr |
| May 16, 5:06 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | McCurtain | 54 min |
| May 16, 5:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | McCurtain | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2003Tornado Watches in Kansas, 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.