Alert archive / Oklahoma / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2017

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 229

May 16, 201740 counties in Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 16, 2017, 10:07 PM CDT for 40 counties in Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2017, 10:07 PM CDT (03:07 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2017, 4:01 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 62 counties

Alfalfa County, OK, 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, Garfield County, OK, Garvin County, OK, Grady County, OK, Grant County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Harper County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Kay County, OK, Kingfisher County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Lincoln County, OK, Logan County, OK, Love County, OK, Major County, OK, McClain County, OK, Murray County, OK, Noble County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Payne County, OK, Pottawatomie County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Stephens 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, Comanche County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Erath County, TX, Foard County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Jack County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:08 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: 20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 10%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
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: 90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Dickens, Garza, Kent, King, Stonewall	35 min
May 16, 10:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard, Knox	48 min
May 16, 10:17 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Roger Mills	3 hr
May 16, 10:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Major	53 min
May 16, 10:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Beckham, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Roger Mills, Woodward	48 min
May 16, 10:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Baylor, Wilbarger	43 min
May 16, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Knox	52 min
May 16, 11:14 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Dewey, Woodward	2 hr
May 16, 11:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Comanche, Cotton, Tillman	44 min
May 16, 11:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Major, Woods	41 min
May 16, 11:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Caddo, Comanche, Grady, Stephens	49 min
May 16, 11:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	49 min
May 17, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Cleveland, Grady, McClain	43 min
May 17, 12:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Jefferson, Stephens	29 min
May 17, 1:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Oklahoma	28 min
May 17, 1:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Logan, Oklahoma	33 min
May 17, 1:14 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Cleveland, Lincoln, Pottawatomie	46 min
May 17, 1:14 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Comanche, Garvin, Grady, Jefferson, McClain and 2 more	31 min
May 17, 1:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Carter, Cleveland, Garvin, McClain, Murray, Pontotoc and 2 more	47 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, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 100 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 768 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -307 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 232 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 308 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:29 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alfalfa, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer and 9 more	61 min
May 16, 9:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton and 16 more	37 min
May 17, 1:49 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Creek, Garfield, Garvin and 20 more	56 min
May 16, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Borden, Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho and 35 more	8 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2017 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2017 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2017

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.