Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 8, 2003Pittsburg County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 8, 2003, 4:20 AM CDT for Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 55 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 8, 2003, 4:20 AM CDT (09:20 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2003, 5:15 AM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Pittsburg County, OK

The radar

The Norman radar (KTLX), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:19 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 8, 3:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 00:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 1026 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -80 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1110 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 123 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 300 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 5.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

718 
WFUS54 KTSA 080920
TORTUL
OKC121-081015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
420 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  SOUTHERN PITTSBURG COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 515 AM CDT

* AT 420 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
  STRONG ROTATION OVER KIOWA...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. THIS DANGEROUS
  STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...MCALESTER...
  KIOWA...BLANCO...SAVANNA...HARTSHORNE...ALDERSON...KREBS...BLOCKER
  AND CROWDER.

THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY IN EFFECT 
FOR PITTSBURGH COUNTY.

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

NIGHTTIME TORNADOES ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS - TAKE COVER NOW IF YOU
WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING...IT MAY BE TOO LATE TO GET TO A
SAFE PLACE

LAT...LON 3474 9609 3461 9593 3466 9552 3522 9559

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 1:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Tulsa	50 min
May 8, 3:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	55 min
May 8, 4:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer	63 min
May 8, 5:04 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell	41 min
May 8, 5:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, LeFlore	49 min
May 8, 6:04 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	56 min
May 8, 6:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore	34 min
May 8, 5:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Osage	55 min
May 8, 6:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Creek, Okfuskee	59 min
May 8, 6:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Osage, Pawnee	54 min
May 8, 6:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Osage	67 min

Nearby

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.