Alert archive / Oklahoma / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 963

May 29, 20125 counties in Kansas; 34 counties in Oklahoma; Hardeman County, Wichita County, Wilbarger County, Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 29, 2012, 3:06 PM CDT for 5 counties in Kansas; 34 counties in Oklahoma; Hardeman County, Wichita County, Wilbarger County, Texas. It was in force for 84 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 29, 2012, 3:06 PM CDT (20:06 UTC)
Expired
May 29, 2012, 4:30 PM CDT
In force
84 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
95%
All 42 counties

Barber County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Meade County, KS, Seward County, KS, Alfalfa County, OK, Beaver County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Canadian County, OK, Cleveland County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Garfield County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Grant County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harper County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Kingfisher County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Logan County, OK, Major County, OK, McClain County, OK, Noble County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Payne County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK, Hardeman County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:06 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 142 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 2012-05-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 96 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 2012-05-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 101 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
96 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-476 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

675 
ACUS11 KWNS 292007
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 292006
OKZ000-KSZ000-TXZ000-292130-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0963
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0306 PM CDT TUE MAY 29 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SW KS...WRN OK...NW TX

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY

VALID 292006Z - 292130Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...95 PERCENT

SUMMARY...A SEVERE THREAT IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS SW
KS...WCNTRL OK AND NW TX LATE THIS AFTERNOON. LARGE HAIL AND WIND
DAMAGE SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY THREATS ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO
THREAT MAY ALSO DEVELOP. WW ISSUANCE WILL BE LIKELY BY 2130Z.

DISCUSSION...LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS A 1007 MB SFC LOW NEAR
CHILDRESS WITH A MOIST AXIS EXTENDING NWD FROM NORTH TX INTO WRN OK
WHERE SFC DEWPOINTS ARE IN THE UPPER 60S F. WARMING SFC TEMPS ALONG
THE MOIST AXIS HAVE RESULTED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG
INSTABILITY ACROSS THE MCD AREA. MESOANALYSIS IS ESTIMATING MLCAPE
VALUES ARE NOW IN THE 3000 TO 4500 J/KG RANGE. IN ADDITION...THE
CAPPING INVERSION HAS DIMINISHED ACROSS MOST OF WRN OK AND PARTS OF
SW KS WHERE STORM INITIATION IS EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE AROUND 21Z.
SHORT-TERM MODEL FORECASTS SUGGEST THE FAVORED ZONE FOR INITIATION
WILL BE FROM GAGE OK ARCHING SWD ACROSS WRN OK AND BACK SWWD INTO NW
TX WHERE SEVERAL FIELDS OF CUMULUS ARE BECOMING AGITATED ACCORDING
TO VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY. REGIONAL PROFILERS FROM SW KS INTO WRN
OK HAVE 0-6 KM SHEAR OF 35 TO 45 KT WITH STRONG DIRECTIONAL SHEAR
FROM 1 KM TO 4 KM AGL. THE SHEAR ENVIRONMENT ALONG WITH STEEP
MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND STRONG INSTABILITY...SHOULD BE FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL. HAIL GREATER THAN 2 INCHES IN
DIAMETER AND A TORNADO OR TWO WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE MORE
DOMINANT SUPERCELLS. AS STORMS INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND CELL MERGERS
OCCUR...A SEVERE MCS APPEARS LIKELY. THE WIND DAMAGE THREAT SHOULD
INCREASE BY EARLY EVENING ESPECIALLY IF A WELL-DEVELOPED BOWING LINE
SEGMENT CAN ORGANIZE ACROSS CNTRL OK.

..BROYLES/BUNTING/WEISS.. 05/29/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...TSA...ICT...OUN...DDC...AMA...

LAT...LON   33879825 33839937 33999986 34469983 35579942 36149976
            36660068 37070104 37570048 37539950 37059802 36379702
            36009677 35009682 34179734 33879825

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 28, 11:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCherokee, Crawford, Labette, Montgomery54 min
May 29, 3:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Harper, Meade, Sumner12 hr
May 29, 6:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Harper, Sumner88 min
May 28, 7:44 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Carter, Coal, Garvin, Hughes, Johnston and 7 more91 min
May 28, 9:51 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCanadian, Creek, Kingfisher, Lincoln, Logan, Oklahoma and 2 more54 min
May 28, 9:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Cooke, Denton and 16 more55 min
May 28, 11:25 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBosque, Brown, Coleman, Coryell, Dallas, Ellis and 10 more35 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Kansas, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.