Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Tulsa, OK

April 19, 2003Sebastian County, Arkansas; LeFlore County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at Apr 19, 2003, 9:38 PM CDT for Sebastian County, Arkansas; LeFlore County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 67 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: Apr 19, 2003, 9:38 PM CDT (02:38 UTC)
Expired: Apr 19, 2003, 10:45 PM CDT
In force: 67 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Sebastian County, AR, LeFlore County, OK

The radar

The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 8 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:40 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.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 19, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 hours before the alert went out and 179 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: 11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -140 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 902 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 286 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 217 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

348 
WFUS54 KTSA 200238
TORTUL
ARC131-OKC079-200345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
938 PM CDT SAT APR 19 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  NORTHEASTERN LE FLORE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
  NORTHERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 1045 PM CDT

* AT 938 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
  STRONG ROTATION 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF SPIRO...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
  THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...SPIRO...
  POCOLA...ARKOMA...FORT SMITH...GREENWOOD...BARLING...LAVACA...
  BONANZA...JENNY LIND AND BLOOMER.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER NOW IF NO
UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR MORE
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS

LAT...LON 3519 9408 3521 9467 3528 9467 3534 9459
          3540 9442 3545 9440 3543 9435 3538 9434
          3535 9429 3535 9422 3538 9418 3538 9414
          3541 9414 3542 9408

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 19, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford	64 min
Apr 19, 10:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Franklin	66 min
Apr 19, 10:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Madison	46 min
Apr 19, 11:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford, Sebastian	47 min
Apr 19, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	28 min
Apr 19, 7:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	32 min
Apr 19, 7:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell	35 min
Apr 19, 7:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	34 min
Apr 19, 8:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell	33 min
Apr 19, 8:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pittsburg	32 min
Apr 19, 8:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell	62 min
Apr 19, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	46 min
Apr 19, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	28 min
Apr 19, 9:18 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Haskell, Sequoyah	3 hr
Apr 19, 9:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	57 min
Apr 19, 9:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	15 min
Apr 19, 10:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	43 min
Apr 19, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	40 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 2003 Tornado Warnings in Oklahoma, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.