Heavy rain caused a moderate flood along the Illinois River near Watts.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.
Heavy rain caused a moderate flood along the Illinois River near Watts.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 1, 2:42 AM CST, 1 hour 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 342 AM CDT TUE APR 1 2008 .DISCUSSION... THE TRUER POST-FRONTAL AIRMASS IS CURRENTLY OVERTAKING THE FORECAST AREA WITH A BROAD REGION OF STRONG PRESSURE RISES ENSURING GUSTY WINDS THROUGH THE MORNING. BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE AND EFFECTS OF LOW CLOUDS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES COOL TODAY. CHOSE TO CONTINUE WITH A DRY FORECAST THROUGH TONIGHT THOUGH FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA WILL BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO POSSIBLY SEE SOME LIGHT SHOWERS BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. STRENGTHENING UPGLIDE ALONG THE RETREATING ELEVATED FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL ALLOW CONVECTION TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY. PLACEMENT OF THE PRIMARY PRECIP AXIS VARIES AMONGST MODEL SOLUTIONS HOWEVER MOST LOCATIONS MAY SEE AT LEAST SOME LIGHT RAIN. ELEVATED INSTABILITIES IMPROVE WITH TIME SO WILL CONTINUE WITH A MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS. CLOUDY AND COOL CONDITIONS TYPICAL ON THE COOL SIDE OF A WARM FRONT WILL PREVAIL WEDNESDAY. FOCUS WILL INCREASINGLY BECOME THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT TIMEFRAME. FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH APPROACHING SHORTWAVE TROUGH AND ADVANCING WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. THE NORTHWARD ADVANCE OF THE WARM FRONT BY THURSDAY IS QUITE UNCERTAIN AND TENDED TO SIDE TOWARD A GFS/UKMET AVERAGE PLACEMENT WHICH WOULD BE SOMEWHERE NEAR THE INTERSTATE 44 CORRIDOR BY THURSDAY EVENING. ALONG AND NORTH OF THIS BOUNDARY WILL LIKELY BE THE PROLONGED RAINFALL...AND RESULTANT HEAVIEST AMOUNTS. THIS WILL IMPACT MANY LOCATIONS THAT HAVE RECEIVED RECENT EXCESSIVE RAINFALL AMOUNTS...AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT FLOODING IMPACTS IS BECOMING MORE LIKELY. ADDITIONALLY...SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL WILL INCREASE INTO THURSDAY WITH A PRIMARY HAIL THREAT NORTH OF THE WARM FRONT. STORMS WHICH DEVELOP ACROSS THE WARM SECTOR WILL POSE SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER IMPACTS THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. THE EVOLVING WARM SECTOR CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY BE AN ONGOING FORECAST CHALLENGE DURING THE EVENT. THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH AXIS IS FORECAST TO CLEAR THE AREA BY THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE ATTENDANT COLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY SWEEP SOUTHEASTWARD. STORM TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS DURING THIS UPCOMING EVENT ARE LIKELY TO BE ONE TO TWO INCHES OVER A BROAD AREA...AND LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OVER THREE INCHES LIKELY. APPROPRIATE WATCHES ARE LIKELY IN UPCOMING FORECASTS AS CONFIDENCE INCREASES. SEVERAL DAYS OF DRY WEATHER ARE EXPECTED FOR LATE WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND...WITH PRECIPITATION CHANCES RETURNING BY EARLY NEXT WEEK PENDING THE TIMING OF THE NEXT SYSTEM. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... TUL 57 40 56 53 / 10 10 70 80 FSM 61 45 58 53 / 10 10 70 60 MLC 59 46 58 56 / 10 10 70 60 BVO 56 36 55 51 / 10 10 70 80 FYV 55 37 55 49 / 10 10 70 80 BYV 54 36 54 47 / 10 10 70 80 MKO 57 42 57 54 / 10 10 70 80 MIO 54 36 56 49 / 10 10 60 80 F10 57 43 57 55 / 10 10 70 70 HHW 60 51 62 58 / 10 10 60 40 && .TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OK...NONE. AR...NONE. && SHORT TERM...06 LONG TERM....07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 1112 PM CDT MON MAR 31 2008 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-011000- ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK- CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK- LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK- OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK- PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK- WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR- 1101 PM CDT MON MAR 31 2008 THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER OVERNIGHT. DISCUSSION... THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAVY RAIN HAVE ENDED IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. HOWEVER...STREAMS AND RIVERS WILL CONTINUE TO RUN HIGH OVERNIGHT. FLOOD WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR THE ILLINOIS RIVER...POTEAU RIVER...BLACK BEAR CREEK... AND BIRD CREEK. THERE MAY ALSO BE SOME LOCATIONS WHERE WATER WILL COVER THE ROAD OVERNIGHT. SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. TUESDAY...NO HAZARDS. WEDNESDAY...THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL...HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL. THURSDAY...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL...HIGH WIND POTENTIAL...HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL. FRIDAY...THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL...HIGH WIND POTENTIAL. SATURDAY...NO HAZARDS. SUNDAY...NO HAZARDS. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... EXTENDED DISCUSSION... GUSTY WINDS BEHIND TODAYS COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE ON TUESDAY. ANOTHER POTENT UPPER TROUGH WILL APPROACH THE REGION WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY. ANOTHER POTENTIAL ROUND OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE AS A COLD FRONT MOVES INTO A MOIST...UNSTABLE AIRMASS. HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO LIKELY WITH THIS NEXT SYSTEM. THE HEAVIEST RAIN IS EXPECTED OVER NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. WIDESPREAD TWO TO THREE INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE LIKELY WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS OF 6 INCHES POSSIBLE. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING STATEMENT... WHILE THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY CAN NOT BE IGNORED...FLOODING FROM ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MAY WELL BECOME THE DOMINANT WEATHER HAZARD. WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL INFORMATION.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
116 AM CDT TUE APR 01 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0108 AM FLOOD 2 E SKIATOOK 36.37N 95.97W
04/01/2008 TULSA OK DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
HIGHWAY 20 CLOSED. BIRD CREEK COVERS THE ROAD.
&&
BASThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Illinois River near Watts rose above its flood stage of 13 feet at 4:54 am cdt on April 1st. The river crested at 18.34 feet at 2 pm cdt the same day. This crest classified the flood as a moderate flood. The river fell below its flood stage at 9 pm cdt also on the same day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, April 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 94492.