Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 65, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 16, 2003Cherokee County, Oklahoma

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 16, 2003, 3:22 PM CDT for Cherokee County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 68 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 16, 2003, 3:22 PM CDT (20:22 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2003, 4:30 PM CDT
In force: 68 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cherokee County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:24 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 16, 12:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 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: 189 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

413 
WFUS54 KTSA 162022
TORTUL
OKC021-162130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
322 PM CDT FRI MAY 16 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  CHEROKEE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

* UNTIL 430 PM CDT

* AT 322 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
  STRONG ROTATION 16 MILES WEST OF COOKSON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30
  MPH. THIS DANGEROUS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...TAHLEQUAH...
  COOKSON...HULBERT...ELDON...PEGGS AND SCRAPER.

ADDITIONAL SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT NORTHERN PORTIONS OF 
CHEROKEE COUNTY THROUGH 430 PM.

VERY HEAVY RAIN MAY COMPLETELY OBSCURE THIS TORNADO - 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 3616 9508 3598 9522 3567 9513 3568 9483
          3613 9482

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 2:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek, Osage, Pawnee	98 min
May 16, 3:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Tulsa	34 min
May 16, 3:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Pittsburg	69 min
May 16, 3:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek, Nowata, Osage, Rogers, Tulsa, Washington	68 min
May 16, 4:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Muskogee, Wagoner	55 min
May 16, 4:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Craig, Delaware, Mayes, Ottawa	77 min
May 16, 4:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Adair, Cherokee, Haskell, LeFlore, McIntosh, Muskogee and 1 more	91 min
May 16, 5:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Wagoner	30 min
May 16, 5:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Latimer, Pittsburg, Pushmataha	56 min
May 16, 5:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Delaware	32 min
May 16, 6:13 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore, McIntosh, Muskogee and 2 more	62 min
May 16, 7:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Choctaw, Pushmataha	44 min
May 16, 9:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	LeFlore, Pushmataha	73 min
May 16, 1:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Okfuskee	59 min
May 16, 1:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Okfuskee	55 min
May 16, 1:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Okmulgee	64 min
May 16, 1:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	55 min
May 16, 1:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	McIntosh, Muskogee	54 min
May 16, 1:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Pittsburg	66 min
May 16, 2:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	McIntosh	65 min
May 16, 2:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, Pushmataha	59 min
May 16, 2:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Okmulgee	34 min
May 16, 2:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Haskell, Muskogee	61 min
May 16, 2:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Muskogee	55 min
May 16, 2:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Wagoner	52 min
May 16, 2:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Muskogee	48 min
May 16, 3:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Latimer, LeFlore, Pushmataha	73 min
May 16, 3:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Muskogee	42 min
May 16, 3:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Latimer	39 min
May 16, 3:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Haskell, Sequoyah	64 min
May 16, 3:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	56 min
May 16, 3:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Adair	62 min
May 16, 4:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	Sequoyah	56 min
May 16, 4:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TSA	LeFlore	59 min
May 16, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Creek	46 min
May 16, 5:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Tulsa	4 hr
May 16, 6:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Washington	4 hr
May 16, 6:11 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TSA	Creek	4 hr

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.