Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 153

April 3, 200829 counties in Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 3, 2008, 2:04 PM CDT for 29 counties in Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 3, 2008, 2:04 PM CDT (19:04 UTC)
Expired
Apr 3, 2008, 8:33 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
4 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 51 counties

Atoka County, OK, Bryan County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Canadian County, OK, Carter County, OK, Cleveland County, OK, Coal County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Hughes County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Johnston County, OK, Kingfisher County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Logan County, OK, Love County, OK, Marshall County, OK, McClain County, OK, Murray County, OK, Noble County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Payne County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Seminole County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Archer County, TX, Baylor County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Clay County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Jack County, TX, Jones County, TX, Montague County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:07 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
95%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
80%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

25 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 3, 2:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCotton45 min
Apr 3, 2:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCotton, Jefferson, Stephens51 min
Apr 3, 2:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNArcher, Baylor, Wichita47 min
Apr 3, 3:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Jefferson, Stephens27 min
Apr 3, 3:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNHughes25 min
Apr 3, 3:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNArcher, Clay, Wichita43 min
Apr 3, 3:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNArcher50 min
Apr 3, 4:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTHaskell, Throckmorton40 min
Apr 3, 4:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNJefferson51 min
Apr 3, 4:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague45 min
Apr 3, 4:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Jefferson, Love38 min
Apr 3, 4:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTThrockmorton25 min
Apr 3, 5:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCooke57 min
Apr 3, 5:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDYoung66 min
Apr 3, 5:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Jefferson, Johnston, Love, Marshall50 min
Apr 3, 5:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTThrockmorton15 min
Apr 3, 5:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCleveland, Grady, McClain25 min
Apr 3, 5:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Coal, Johnston, Marshall46 min
Apr 3, 6:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJack53 min
Apr 3, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCleveland, Pottawatomie31 min
Apr 3, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNAtoka, Bryan, Coal45 min
Apr 3, 6:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNAtoka, Bryan42 min
Apr 3, 6:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague, Wise41 min
Apr 3, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNGarvin, Grady, Stephens46 min
Apr 3, 7:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNHughes, Seminole51 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 103 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2008-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 199 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2008-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 666 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
199 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-238 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
410 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
666 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
625 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
7.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 3, 10:47 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Jefferson and 5 more58 min
Apr 3, 1:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton and 17 more93 min
Apr 3, 2:39 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, Latimer and 11 more66 min
Apr 3, 3:50 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Haskell and 15 more5 hr
Apr 3, 5:32 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Choctaw, McCurtain, Marshall58 min
Apr 3, 5:54 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCMcCurtain3 hr
Apr 3, 6:12 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Cleveland and 34 more2 hr
Apr 3, 3:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCoke, Crockett, Glasscock, Irion, Reagan, Sterling and 3 more62 min
Apr 3, 4:40 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCCrockett, Edwards, Kinney, Schleicher, Sutton, Terrell and 1 more3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2008Tornado Watches in Texas, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008

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.