Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2016

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 178

May 16, 201630 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 16, 2016, 8:59 PM CDT for 30 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2016, 8:59 PM CDT (01:59 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 2016, 3:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 30 counties

Beckham County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Canadian County, OK, Carter County, OK, Cleveland County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Love County, OK, McClain County, OK, Murray County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Pontotoc County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Seminole County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Washita County, OK

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:00 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
10%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
2%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 9:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNEllis, Roger Mills46 min
May 16, 9:31 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNEllis, Roger Mills29 min
May 16, 9:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBeckham, Custer, Greer, Roger Mills, Washita48 min
May 16, 10:02 PM CDTTornado WarningOUNBeckham, Roger Mills28 min
May 16, 10:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBeckham, Custer, Greer, Roger Mills, Washita46 min
May 16, 10:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBeckham, Greer, Kiowa, Washita48 min
May 16, 11:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBlaine, Custer, Dewey41 min
May 16, 11:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBlaine, Caddo, Canadian, Kingfisher52 min
May 16, 11:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCaddo, Comanche, Kiowa, Tillman, Washita47 min
May 17, 12:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCaddo, Comanche, Grady47 min
May 17, 12:53 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCleveland, McClain, Oklahoma52 min
May 17, 1:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNHarmon, Jackson51 min
May 17, 1:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNGarvin, Grady, McClain, Stephens48 min
May 17, 2:07 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNCotton38 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 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 151 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 00:00Z on 2016-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 490 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 00:00Z on 2016-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 121 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
490 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 7:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Custer, Dewey, Ellis and 5 more67 min
May 16, 9:59 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Roger Mills31 min
May 16, 11:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Garvin, Grady, McClain and 1 more67 min
May 17, 2:08 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin, Jefferson, Johnston and 9 more2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2016Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2016

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.