Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 6, 2003Franklin County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 6, 2003, 7:44 PM CDT for Franklin County, Arkansas. It was in force for 76 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, 7:44 PM CDT (00:44 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 76 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Franklin County, AR

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 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, 6:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 151 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: 2206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1529 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 71 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 234 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.5
Supercell composite: 14.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

724 
WUUS54 KTSA 070044
SVRTUL
ARC047-070200-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 900 PM CDT

* AT 744 PM CDT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WINDS UP TO
  70 MPH WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 10 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF FERN TO 23 MILES WEST OF BRANCH...MOVING EAST AT 40
  MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED INCLUDE... OZARK...BRANCH...DENNING...
  ALTUS...FERN...CASS AND WIEDERKEHR VILLAGE.

DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY WITH THESE STORMS...MOVE TO A SAFE PLACE
NOW. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES ARE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO HIGH
WINDS AND MAY BE OVERTURNED.

IN ADDITION TO DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL IS ALSO LIKELY WITH THESE
STORMS...MOVE TO A SAFE PLACE NOW.

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 3565 9369 3540 9374 3532 9380 3532 9391
          3527 9391 3522 9407 3544 9407 3558 9402
          3566 9406 3567 9398 3573 9395 3573 9391
          3577 9390 3577 9369

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, 7:29 PM CDT, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 6, 7:29 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

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

OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM CELLS IN CRAWFORD CO WILL MERGE WITH THE BOW
APPROACHING FORT SMITH AND VAN BUREN AND MAY RESULT IN ENHANCED
BOUNDARY LAYER ROTATION IN SEBASTIAN CO.  THIS WILL HAVE TO BE
MONITORED FOR BRIEF TORNADO POTENTIAL.

FORECAST ID= 08

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

Hazardous weather outlook, May 6, 1:00 PM CDT, 6 hours 44 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

Special weather statement, May 6, 7:00 PM CDT, 44 minutes before

ARZ001>002-010>011-019>020-029-OKZ049-053-069-072>076-070500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
700 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED TORNADO WATCH #277 UNTIL
MIDNIGHT CDT WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

IN ARKANSAS THIS WATCH INCLUDES 7 COUNTIES...
IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS:

BENTON                CARROLL               CRAWFORD
MADISON               WASHINGTON

IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS:

FRANKLIN              SEBASTIAN

IN OKLAHOMA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 8 COUNTIES...
IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA:

SEQUOYAH

IN NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA:

ADAIR

IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA:

CHOCTAW               HASKELL               LATIMER
LE FLORE              PITTSBURG             PUSHMATAHA

THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ANTLERS...BENTONVILLE...BERRYVILLE...
CEDARVILLE...CLAYTON...EUREKA SPRINGS...FAYETTEVILLE...FORT SMITH...
HUGO...HUNTSVILLE...MCALESTER...MOUNTAINBURG...NATURAL DAM...OZARK...
POTEAU...ROGERS...SALLISAW...SILOAM SPRINGS...SPRINGDALE...STIGLER...
STILWELL...VAN BUREN AND WILBURTON.

Local storm report, May 6, 7:04 PM CDT, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0704 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

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

0703 PM    BOKOSHE                   OK   0.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   LE FLORE

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 7:22 PM CDT, 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0722 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

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

0719 PM    PANAMA                    OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   LE FLORE

0722 PM    SPIRO                     OK   1.00 IN HAIL
05/06/03   LE FLORE

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 7:33 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0733 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

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

0732 PM    POCOLA                    OK   0.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   LE FLORE

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 7:38 PM CDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0738 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

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

0737 PM    ROCK ISLAND               OK   0.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   LE FLORE

SP

Local storm report, May 6, 7:44 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
0744 PM CDT TUE MAY 06 2003

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

0743 PM    RYE HILL                  AR   0.75 IN HAIL
05/06/03   SEBASTIAN

SP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 7:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	53 min
May 6, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford	49 min
May 6, 7:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	38 min
May 6, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	40 min
May 6, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Washington	80 min
May 7, 12:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	41 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.