Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 273

May 7, 200820 counties in Oklahoma; 19 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 7, 2008, 1:33 PM CDT for 20 counties in Oklahoma; 19 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 7, 2008, 1:33 PM CDT (18:33 UTC)
Expired
May 7, 2008, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 39 counties

Atoka County, OK, Bryan County, OK, Carter County, OK, Cleveland County, OK, Coal County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Hughes County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Johnston County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Love County, OK, Marshall County, OK, McClain County, OK, Murray County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Seminole County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Clay County, TX, Collin County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Delta County, TX, Denton County, TX, Fannin County, TX, Grayson County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Jack County, TX, Lamar County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Rains County, TX, Rockwall County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Wise County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:33 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
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 7, 2:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNJefferson, Stephens51 min
May 7, 2:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Garvin, Murray65 min
May 7, 3:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCleveland, McClain, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie43 min
May 7, 3:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNJefferson38 min
May 7, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNClay25 min
May 7, 4:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNStephens40 min
May 7, 4:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNLove65 min
May 7, 4:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJack, Young43 min
May 7, 4:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Garvin, Murray52 min
May 7, 4:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague67 min
May 7, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCanadian, Cleveland, Oklahoma50 min
May 7, 5:05 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNOklahoma25 min
May 7, 5:05 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDCollin40 min
May 7, 5:08 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningOUNCanadian, Oklahoma3 hr
May 7, 5:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCarter, Coal, Johnston, Love, Marshall, Murray and 1 more61 min
May 7, 5:20 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNOklahoma36 min
May 7, 5:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin, Grayson64 min
May 7, 5:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCleveland, Pottawatomie42 min
May 7, 5:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDGrayson57 min
May 7, 5:39 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNLincoln, Pottawatomie, Seminole31 min
May 7, 5:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNAtoka, Bryan, Coal, Johnston, Marshall60 min
May 7, 5:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin, Grayson57 min
May 7, 6:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNHughes52 min
May 7, 6:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNLincoln48 min
May 7, 6:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCoal, Johnston, Pontotoc30 min
May 7, 6:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin, Grayson37 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 107 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 72 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 196 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
72 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-374 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
398 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 8:50 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Custer, Ellis, Greer, Harmon, Jackson and 4 more85 min
May 6, 9:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBeaver, Cimarron, Harmon, Jackson, Texas, Tillman7 hr
May 6, 9:59 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCWoods61 min
May 7, 12:04 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Greer, Harmon and 5 more86 min
May 7, 2:47 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Custer, Greer and 5 more58 min
May 7, 7:07 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Carter, Cherokee, Cleveland, Coal, Creek and 25 more53 min
May 7, 7:33 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Cherokee, Delaware, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore and 9 more5 hr
May 7, 9:52 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Cherokee, Cleveland, Coal, Craig, Creek and 22 more83 min
May 7, 3:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Garvin and 7 more2 hr
May 7, 4:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHaskell, Latimer, LeFlore, McCurtain, Pushmataha88 min
May 7, 5:28 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Cherokee, Choctaw, Craig, Creek, Delaware and 20 more8 hr
May 7, 6:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston, Marshall55 min
May 6, 11:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBandera, Edwards, Gillespie, Kerr, Kinney, Maverick and 4 more85 min
May 7, 11:59 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Borden, Callahan, Cottle, Crosby and 29 more91 min
May 7, 1:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Borden, Callahan, Cottle, Crosby and 29 more88 min
May 7, 3:42 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAnderson, Bell, Ellis, Falls, Freestone, Henderson and 9 more6 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.