Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1986
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Amarillo, TX
NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 14, 1986, 2:42 PM CDT for Randall County, Texas. It was in force for 34 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 14, 1986, 2:42 PM CDT (19:42 UTC)
- Expired
- May 14, 1986, 3:16 PM CDT
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Amarillo, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Randall County, TX
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
The nearest sounding before it
Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 34 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1686 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -198 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1153 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 4.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KAMA 141946 TORAMA TXC381-142045- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 242 PM CDT WED MAY 14 1986 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 345 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF PANHANDLE OF TEXAS...RANDALL AT 235PM STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO SOUTH 3 TO 4 MILES SOUTH OF THE CLAUDE HIGHWAY AND 1 TO 2 MILES T OF OSAGE. lMOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO..GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER OR A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 14, 11:46 AM CDT, 2 hours 56 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 1145AM CDT WED MAY 14 1986 TORNADO WATCH 160 IS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF THE EAST CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE...AND MUCH OF WESTER OKLAHOMA INCLUDING THE EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE. AT 1145AM SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE WIDELY SCATTERED OVER THE EASTERN HALVES OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 30 MPH. PERS ONS IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER.
Special weather statement, May 14, 12:39 PM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 1235 PM CDT WED MAY 14 1986 TORNADO WATCH 160 IS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF THE EAST CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE...AND MUCH OF WESTERN OKLAHOMA INCLUDING THE EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 115 PM CDT FOR OCHILTREE AND LIPSCOMB COUNTIES OF THE NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE. AT 1230 PM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR PERRYTON IN THE NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE. HAIL UP TO ONE HALF INCH WAS REPORTED BY THE PERRYTON POLICE AT 1212 PM CDT. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR. A VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM WeAS DEVELOPING IN HALL COUNTY..JUST SOUTH OF MEMPHIS. THIS STORM MAY CONTAIN HAIL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS AS IT MOVES NORTHEAST. PERSONS IN THE WATCH AND WARNED AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 14, 12:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Lipscomb, Ochiltree | 64 min |
| May 14, 1:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Collingsworth | 67 min |
| May 14, 2:02 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | AMA | Dallam | 58 min |
| May 14, 3:08 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | AMA | Armstrong | 67 min |
| May 14, 5:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Donley, Wheeler | 63 min |
| May 14, 6:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Collingsworth, Hall | 57 min |
| May 14, 6:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Childress, Hall | 64 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1986Every tornado warning in 1986Tornadoes in 1986
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.