Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 1, 2003Sebastian County, Arkansas; LeFlore County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 1, 2003, 7:01 PM CDT for Sebastian County, Arkansas; LeFlore County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 59 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 1, 2003, 7:01 PM CDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 59 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), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:04 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
May 1, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 219 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: 1247 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 891 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KTSA 020001
TORTUL
ARC131-OKC079-020100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
701 PM CDT THU MAY 1 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  EASTERN LE FLORE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA
  SOUTHWESTERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 701 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF POTEAU. THIS DANGEROUS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT
  20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...POTEAU...
  HEAVENER...HARTFORD...HUNTINGTON...MIDLAND AND MANSFIELD.

IF YOU ARE IN OR 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 3506 9465 3488 9463 3490 9418 3512 9421

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 1, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Franklin	55 min
May 1, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Crawford	63 min
May 1, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Sebastian	44 min
May 1, 9:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Benton	66 min
May 1, 7:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	32 min
May 1, 7:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore, Sequoyah	33 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.