Old News from 2003

(12/19/2003) Oklahoma City Christmas Day Weather Trivia. A web page with information related to Christmas Day weather in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is available. The data are based on records going back to 1890.

(12/13/2003) Web Page for the December 12-13, 2003 Winter Storm is Now Available. A preliminary web page for the December 12-13, 2003 winter storm in Oklahoma is now available.

(12/11/2003) Oklahoma Weather Radio Awareness Day. December 12, 2003 was Weather Radio Awareness Day in Oklahoma. This day was devoted to increasing awareness of the National Weather Service's weather radio program. More information can be found at link or the following links to some public messages issued on December 12, 2003.

(12/10/2003) NWS Norman Spotter Training Schedule for 2004. NWS Norman now has a preliminary schedule for storm spotter training available via the SKYWARN page. The schedule comes in 2 formats: a table, a calendar, and an Adobe PDF file.

(12/09/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of September 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(11/10/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of August 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(10/29/2003) Northern Lights.   At around 300 am CST on October 29, scattered reports of the Northern Lights were received from across Oklahoma. The Northern Lights were reported from observers near Fort Supply, Dover, north of Watonga, at Vance Air Force Base, and near Stillwater. Second-hand reports were also received from locations as far south as Duncan, Oklahoma and Electra, Texas. The observers reported that the display began to wane around 315 am CST, but were still visible at some locations until 530 am CST.

The Northern Lights are relatively rare as far south as Oklahoma and Texas. The episode on the morning of October 29 was aided by an extremely strong solar flare that was produced by the sun on the morning of October 28, and began to interact with the magnetic field of the earth around 1200 am CST October 29. Solar flares produce what is known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is an outflow of plasma from the sun. Under the correct circumstances, when a CME interacts with the magnetic field of the earth, it may produce the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.

For more information on the phenomenon, including tips on Aurora viewing, please go to the Space Weather Now web page, which is available through the Space Environment Center web site.

(10/22/2003) New Quarterly Weather Newsletter. The latest version of The Southern Plains Cyclone has been published. The HTML and the Adobe PDF versions of the Autumn 2003 newsletter are now available on this website.

(10/21/2003) OK-WARN The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) recently announced a new program announced today called OK-WARN (Weather Alert Remote Notification). OK-WARN will allow deaf and hard-of-hearing Oklahomans to receive hazardous weather information directly from the National Weather Service (NWS) through alphanumeric pagers. More information regarding this program can be found through this news release and on the OEM web site.

(10/20/2003) 2003-04 Winter Weather Outlook Released The winter weather outlook recently released by the NOAA/NWS Climate Prediction Center (CPC) suggests temperatures in Alaska, the far West, Southwest, and Southern Plains may be above normal for the 2003-04 winter. For other parts of the Nation, the winter will bring equal chances of above-, below-, or near-normal temperatures. For more information please see the latest news release from NOAA.

(10/14/2003) New Storm Data Files. New storm data files for the months of May, June and July 2003 are available through the Storm Data page.

(10/10/2003) New Tornado Safe Room Program. The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently announced the start of Operation Safe Room. More nnformation regarding this program can be found on the OEM web site.

(8/28/2003) New County Zone/FIPS Maps. New maps displaying county zone and FIPS codes are now available for the state of Oklahoma and the NWS Norman County Warning Area.

(8/27/2003) 2003 Tornado Information Updated. Tables containing 2003 tornado statistics have recently been updated. The updated 2003 Tornado statistics are available for the state of Oklahoma and the NWS Norman County Warning Area.

(8/12/2003) New Storm Spotting Web Pages. New web pages pertaining to storm spotting are now available through this web site. The storm spotting pages are divided into four sections: NWS Information Use, Spotter Basics, Spotter Safety, and Spotter Reports.

The main storm spotter web page can be found at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/stormspotting/

(8/11/2003) OKC Area Tornado Data Updated. The comprehensive list of tornadoes in the Oklahoma City, OK area since 1890 has been updated to include the tornadoes which occurred in April and May 2003.

(7/29/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of April 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(7/24/2003) New Quarterly Weather Newsletter. The latest version of The Southern Plains Cyclone has been published. The HTML and the Adobe PDF versions of the Summer 2003 newsletter are now available on this website.

(6/30/2003) Web-based Reporting a Big Success! A big thanks to everyone who has used our new storm reporting form to send important weather information to the forecasters at WFO Norman! We saw a busy severe weather season, and your reports were extremely helpful to warning forecasters and others involved in the warning process.
In just over three months, NWS Norman received 75 reports through the web-based storm report page. This critical information - including reports of tornadoes, funnel clouds, wall clouds, wind gusts, wind damage, large hail and flooding - came from people from all walks of life - from emergency managers and news media to meteorology students, storm spotters and chasers, and concerned and interested citizens.
We appreciate the information as issuing warnings to save lives is our main job, and we use storm and damage reports to help us issue the best possible warnings. Thank you!

(6/28/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of March 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(6/15/2003) National Lightning Safety Awareness Week - June 22-28, 2003. Summer is the peak season for one of the nation's deadliest weather phenomena—lightning. Safeguarding U.S. residents from dangerous lightning is the goal of the National Lightning Safety Awareness Week website. This website has many resources on lightning safety and other lightning-related topics.

(5/10/2003) Preliminary Information for the May 9, 2003 Central Oklahoma Tornado Event is Now Available. A preliminary web page for the May 9, 2003 tornadoes in central Oklahoma is now available.

(5/09/2003) Preliminary Information for the May 8, 2003 Central Oklahoma Tornado Event is Now Available. A preliminary web page for the May 8, 2003 tornadoes in central Oklahoma is now available.

(5/08/2003) Preliminary Information for the May 7-8, 2003 Southern Oklahoma Tornado Event is Now Available. A preliminary web page for the May 7-8, 2003 nocturnal tornado event in southern Oklahoma is now available.

(4/22/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of February 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(4/17/2003) New Storm Report Email Address. If you wish to email us a storm report, or you have storm photos that you would like to send to us, please use our new storm report email address. The new email address is:

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(4/15/2003) New Storm Report Form is Available. A new web page can now be used to submit near "real-time" local storm reports. The URL for the Local Storm Report Page is:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/stormreport/

When you issue a storm report, it will be sent directly to the NWS Norman office. You can also access the new storm report page by selecting the "Submit Storm Report" button in the upper right corner of the main web page.

(4/15/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of January 2003 is available through the Storm Data page.

(4/11/2003) NWS Norman Spotter Training for 2003 has concluded. The National Weather Service in Norman would like to thank the emergency managers and others who helped to organize spotter training sessions for 2003. Thanks to these efforts, more than 2000 people were trained as storm spotters. The NWS and the communities served and protected by storm spotters greatly appreciate their hard work and dedication.

(4/03/2003) New Quarterly Weather Newsletter. The latest version of The Southern Plains Cyclone has been published. The HTML and the Adobe PDF versions of the Spring 2003 newsletter are now available on this website.

(2/27/2003) March 2-8, 2003 has been designated as Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week in Oklahoma. Governor Brad Henry has proclaimed March 2-8, 2003 as Severe Weather Awareness Week. During this week, the National Weather Service in Norman will feature severe weather information and safety rules through the issuance of Public Information Statements. Reproductions of these statements have been made available at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/severewx/okseverewx.php

(2/27/2003) March 2-8, 2003 has been designated as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Texas.. Governor Mark Perry has proclaimed the week of March 2-8, 2003 as Severe Weather Awareness Week in Texas. During this week, National Weather Service offices throughout Texas will feature severe weather information and safety rules through the issuance of Public Information Statements. Reproductions of these statements have been made available at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/severewx/txseverewx.php

(2/07/2003) Web Page for the February 6, 2003 Winter Storm is Now Available. A preliminary web page for the February 6, 2003 winter storm in Oklahoma is now available.

(2/04/2003) New Storm Data File. A new storm data file for the month of December 2002 is available through the Storm Data page.

(1/03/2003) New Quarterly Weather Newsletter. The Southern Plains Cyclone, a quarterly weather newsletter, has been published by WFO Norman. The HTML and the Adobe PDF versions of the Winter 2003 newsletter are now available on this website.