Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Fort Worth, TX

March 16, 1987Haskell County, Jones County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Mar 16, 1987, 3:22 PM CST for Haskell County, Jones County, Texas. It was in force for 63 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 16, 1987, 3:22 PM CST (21:22 UTC)
Expired
Mar 16, 1987, 4:25 PM CST
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Haskell County, TX, Jones 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

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 180 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-03-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 283 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-03-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 116 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
283 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-337 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
677 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
278 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KABI 162122
TORABI
TXC207-253-162230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABILENE TX
322 PM CST MON MAR 16 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
          ...HASKELL...NORTHERN JONES
 
AT 320PM...RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTH OF
STAMFORD. PERSONS IN NORTHERN JONES AND HASKELL COUNTIES SHOULD BE
PREPARED TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION IN CASE A TORNADO IS SIGHTED.
 
THE STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICE FOR RELAY
TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

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, Mar 16, 11:53 AM CST, 3 hours 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1150 AM CST MON MAR 16 1987

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT VIRTUALLY
ALL OF NORTH TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS WESTERN TEXAS
THIS AFTERNOON...MOVING INTO THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS BY
SUNSET AND INTO CENTRAL PORTIONS TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE MOVING INTO EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE AREA
BY MID MORNING TUESDAY. AS THESE STORMS MOVE OVER THE EASTERN HALF
OF THE AREA TUESDAY...HEAVY RAINS MAY PRODUCE LOCALIZED FLOODING.

LATE THIS MORNING...A DRY LINE EXTENDED FROM A SURFACE LOW OVER
NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO SOUTHWARD TO JUST EAST OF LUBBOCK AND MIDLAND
TO THE BIG BEND AREA. A WARM...MOIST UNSTABLE AIRMASS EXISTED
THROUGH THE STATE EAST OF THE DRY LINE. MEANWHILE...AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE WAS MOVING EASTWARD OVER NORTHERN MEXICO.

THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD MOVE INTO THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE NORTH
TEXAS AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS THE UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE BEGINS
INTERACTING WITH THE DRY LINE. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD MOVE ACROSS THE
AREA TONIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY...IN SQUALL LINE FASHION AS THEY
ENCOUNTER A FAIRLY STRONG LOW LEVEL JET.

THE LIMITING FACTORS INVOLVED CONCERNING SEVERE ACTIVITY INCLUDE A
LACK OF SIGNIFICANT WIND SHEARING IN THE UPPER LEVELS AND AN
ANTICIPATED ADDITION OF MOISTURE IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

INITIALLY...STORM SPOTTERS WILL NEED TO MONITOR WEATHER OVER THE
EXTREME WESTERN SECTIONS THIS AFTERNOON...HOWEVER IT APPEARS AS
THE SYSTEM MOVES INTO THE MOISTURE LADEN AIR OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN
TEXAS...HEAVY RAINS WILL BECOME MORE OF A THREAT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 16, 2:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFoard, Hardeman, Knox60 min
Mar 16, 2:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDStonewall54 min
Mar 16, 3:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFoard, Hardeman, Knox60 min
Mar 16, 3:46 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJones, Taylor59 min
Mar 16, 4:00 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDWilbarger60 min
Mar 16, 4:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJones, Shackelford60 min
Mar 16, 4:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDTaylor60 min
Mar 16, 4:50 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDBaylor70 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes in 1987

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.