Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 116, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 6, 2003Benton County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 6, 2003, 6:14 PM CDT for Benton County, Arkansas. It was in force for 46 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: May 6, 2003, 6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Benton County, AR

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:15 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 6, 11:40 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 82 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: 34 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -216 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KTSA 062313
SVRTUL
OKC135-070030-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
613 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SEQUOYAH COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 613 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG
  A LINE EXTENDING FROM 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF MARBLE CITY TO 7 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF VIAN...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THESE STORMS INCLUDE...SALLISAW...
  GANS...MULDROW...ROLAND...VIAN...BRUSHY...SHORT AND MARBLE CITY.

HAIL TO THE SIZE OF NICKLES CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE WARNED AREA. STAY
INDOORS AND AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. TORNADOES CAN
DEVELOP SUDDENLY FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS AS STORMS APPROACH.

LAT...LON 3566 9495 3546 9508 3537 9474 3538 9450
          3565 9447

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 6, 5:35 PM CDT, 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 6, 5:35 PM CDT, 39 minutes before

MESOSCALE FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OKLAHOMA
535 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003

AT 5PM THE DRY LINE EXTENDED FROM JUST NORTHWEST OF MIAMI TO 40
MILES WEST OF ARDMORE.  A COLD FRONT WILL BEGIN TO MERGE INTO THE
DRY LINE DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS THE DRY LINE SLOWS.  DEEP
LAYER SHEAR WILL REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS THROUGH 00Z...THEN
THE SHEAR WILL BEGIN TO RELAX SOME AND THE SHEAR VECTORS WILL
BACK...REDUCING THE ANGLE BETWEEN THE VECTORS AND THE BOUNDARY.

ALL OF THIS WILL PROMOTE A MORE LINEAR CELL MODE AND REDUCED
SUPERCELL THREAT LATER IN THE EVENING.  UNTIL THAT TIME A TORNADO
THREAT WILL CONTINUE WITH THE SUPERCELLS MOVING ACROSS NORTHEAST
OKLAHOMA AND INTO NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

FORECAST ID= 08

.TSA...
AR...NONE.
OK...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, May 6, 1:00 PM CDT, 5 hours 14 minutes before

ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-071100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
100 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS
MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
   ACROSS PORTIONS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS...

SURFACE LOW PRESSURE WAS LOCATED OVER NORTH-CENTRAL OKLAHOMA EARLY
THIS AFTERNOON WITH A DRY LINE EXTENDING SOUTHWEST INTO SOUTHWEST
OKLAHOMA.  THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP ALONG THE DRY LINE BY
MID AFTERNOON ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA...RAPIDLY BECOMING SEVERE.
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED WITH HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF
BASEBALLS...DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS TO 70 MPH AND A FEW TORNADOES.
THE GREATEST TORNADO THREAT THROUGH THIS EVENING WILL BE ACROSS FAR
NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH OF A
BARTLESVILLE...FORT SMITH LINE.

WARNING PROBABILITIES FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES CAN BE
FOUND IN THE OUTLOOK SECTION AT: WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA. GIVEN
PROBABILITIES REPRESENT THE POTENTIAL FOR A WARNING TO BE ISSUED AT
YOUR LOCATION.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY
AN ACTIVE SPRING WEATHER PATTERN WILL CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND AS A
SERIES OF DISTURBANCES MOVES ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND A
SURFACE BOUNDARY REMAINS OVER THE AREA. IT APPEARS THE BEST CHANCES
OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL OCCUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY...AND
AGAIN ON SATURDAY. A MORE STABLE PATTERN MAY FINALLY TAKE OVER BY
EARLY NEXT WEEK.

.SPOTTER / EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON.   A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST
ARKANSAS UNTIL 700 PM.  EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD
CONTINUE TO CLOSELY MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS...AS
WARNINGS WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT...
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 6, 5:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0500 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0459 PM    3 N KETCHUM               OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   CRAIG

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 5:07 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0507 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0505 PM    VINITA                    OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   CRAIG

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 5:09 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0509 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0505 PM    CLEORA                    OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   DELAWARE

0505 PM    BERNICE                   OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   DELAWARE

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 5:25 PM CDT, 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0525 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0521 PM    7 E VINITA                OK   2.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   CRAIG

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 5:39 PM CDT, 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0539 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0514 PM    LOCUST GROVE              OK   0.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   MAYES

0512 PM    2 S LOCUST GROVE          OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   MAYES

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 5:55 PM CDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0555 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0515 PM    4 S MIAMI                 OK   1.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   OTTAWA

SP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 9:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Benton	42 min
May 6, 5:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Washington	57 min
May 6, 6:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Washington	43 min
May 6, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Franklin	61 min
May 6, 6:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Madison	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.