Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 336

May 22, 200821 counties in Oklahoma; 20 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 22, 2008, 2:28 PM CDT for 21 counties in Oklahoma; 20 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 22, 2008, 2:28 PM CDT (19:28 UTC)
Expired
May 22, 2008, 9:12 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 41 counties

Alfalfa County, OK, Beaver County, OK, Beckham County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Harper County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Major County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK, Archer County, TX, Baylor County, TX, Childress County, TX, Clay County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Donley County, TX, Foard County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Wheeler County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:31 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
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
70%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 3:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHall21 min
May 22, 3:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMACollingsworth, Donley, Gray, Wheeler61 min
May 22, 4:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHemphill, Lipscomb, Wheeler54 min
May 22, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAWheeler62 min
May 22, 5:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMALipscomb32 min
May 22, 5:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBeckham, Roger Mills38 min
May 22, 5:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNEllis, Harper41 min
May 22, 5:46 PM CDTTornado WarningAMAWheeler29 min
May 22, 5:52 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNRoger Mills23 min
May 22, 6:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHemphill, Wheeler34 min
May 22, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNEllis, Harper47 min
May 22, 6:13 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNRoger Mills47 min
May 22, 6:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCuster, Dewey, Roger Mills42 min
May 22, 6:52 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNCuster, Roger Mills23 min
May 22, 6:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNHarper, Woods36 min
May 22, 7:12 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNCuster33 min
May 22, 7:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCuster, Dewey47 min
May 22, 8:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNEllis, Harper45 min
May 22, 8:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBlaine, Dewey, Major62 min
May 22, 8:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCuster28 min
May 22, 8:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCuster27 min
May 22, 8:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNEllis, Harper, Woodward42 min
May 22, 9:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBlaine, Custer, Dewey, Garfield, Kingfisher, Major58 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 Sill, OK (KFSI), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 162 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 Sill, OK at 12:00Z on 2008-05-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 761 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Fort Sill, OK at 12:00Z on 2008-05-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 117 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
761 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-422 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1055 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 7:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Cimarron, Texas118 min
May 22, 1:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Beckham, Ellis, Greer, Harmon, Harper and 3 more61 min
May 22, 4:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Comanche, Cotton and 14 more58 min
May 22, 5:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHaskell, Latimer, LeFlore, McCurtain, Pushmataha, Sequoyah57 min
May 22, 6:46 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Comanche and 15 more59 min

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.