Alert archive / Oklahoma / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 342
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2008, 5:09 PM CDT for 17 counties in Oklahoma; 8 counties in Texas. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 23, 2008, 5:09 PM CDT (22:09 UTC)
- Expired
- May 24, 2008, 1:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 25 counties
Alfalfa County, OK, Beaver County, OK, Beckham County, OK, Blaine 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, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK, Collingsworth County, TX, Donley County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Wheeler County, TX
The radar
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 160 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:13 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
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 5:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 55 min |
| May 23, 5:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 61 min |
| May 23, 5:53 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | AMA | Beaver | 37 min |
| May 23, 6:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hemphill, Lipscomb | 50 min |
| May 23, 6:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper | 49 min |
| May 23, 6:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 14 min |
| May 23, 6:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Ellis | 19 min |
| May 23, 7:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Ellis | 13 min |
| May 23, 7:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper, Woodward | 33 min |
| May 23, 7:57 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Harper, Woodward | 33 min |
| May 23, 8:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Harper | 50 min |
| May 23, 8:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Harper, Woods, Woodward | 36 min |
| May 23, 9:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OUN | Woods | 15 min |
| May 23, 9:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 59 min |
| May 23, 9:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 62 min |
| May 23, 9:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper | 58 min |
| May 23, 9:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | AMA | Beaver | 26 min |
| May 23, 10:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 30 min |
| May 23, 10:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Beaver | 66 min |
| May 23, 10:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper, Woods, Woodward | 62 min |
| May 23, 11:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hemphill, Lipscomb | 14 min |
| May 23, 11:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Ellis, Harper, Woods, Woodward | 64 min |
| May 23, 11:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Collingsworth, Hemphill, Wheeler | 55 min |
| May 23, 11:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Beckham, Dewey, Ellis, Roger Mills | 35 min |
| May 24, 12:28 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN | Alfalfa, Beckham, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Major and 3 more | 62 min |
| May 24, 12:42 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Wheeler | 33 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
Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 160 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2746 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -63 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 52 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 232210
SEL2
SPC WW 232210
OKZ000-TXZ000-240600-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 342
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
510 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND EASTERN PARTS OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE
EASTERN PARTS OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 510 PM
UNTIL 100 AM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CLINTON
OKLAHOMA TO 50 MILES NORTH OF GAGE OKLAHOMA. FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 340...WW 341...
DISCUSSION...SCTD TSTMS/SUPERCELLS MAY FORM THIS EVENING ON DRY LINE
CONFLUENCE ZONE EXTENDING S INTO WW FROM WRN KS. ANY SUCH
DEVELOPMENT WILL BE FOSTERED BY COMBINATION OF SFC HEATING AND
GLANCING INFLUENCE OF UPPER IMPULSE ROTATING NE ACROSS NE NM/ERN CO.
ALTHOUGH LARGE HAIL AND LOCALLY DMGG WIND SHOULD BE THE MAIN
THREATS...GIVEN QUALITY OF MOISTURE INFLOW/LOW-LEVEL
INSTABILITY...AND LIKELIHOOD FOR FAIRLY DISCRETE STORM
MODE...POTENTIAL WILL ALSO EXIST FOR TORNADOES.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23030.
...CORFIDISPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 8:16 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Canadian, Creek and 21 more | 29 min |
| May 22, 9:11 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Canadian, Creek, Custer, Dewey and 16 more | 8 hr |
| May 22, 11:43 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Canadian, Creek, Custer, Dewey and 16 more | 62 min |
| May 23, 2:01 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Kingfisher, Lincoln and 7 more | 89 min |
| May 23, 2:49 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beaver, Ellis, Harper, Roger Mills, Woodward | 116 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.