Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 22, 1987Reeves County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1987, 7:54 PM CDT for Reeves County, Texas. It was in force for 66 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 22, 1987, 7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)
Expired
May 22, 1987, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Reeves County, TX

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 22, 8:10 PM CDTTornado F0Reeves, TX
May 22, 8:16 PM CDTTornado F4Reeves, TX

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 158 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1987-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 998 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1987-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -2 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
998 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-10 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 KMAF 230054
TORMAF
TXC389-230200-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
754 PM CDT FRI MAY 22 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS
          ...SOUTH CENTRAL REEVES
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT MIDLAND REGIONAL AIRPORT INDICATES
A TORNADO ACTIVITY MAY BE OCCURING IN A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...LOCATED
10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PECOS.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBaLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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 22, 4:17 PM CDT, 3 hours 37 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
410 PM CDT FRI MAY 22 1987

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR SOUTHWESTERN
REEVES COUNTY UNTIL 430 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

AT 355 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON...1 3/4 INCH HAIL WAS REPORTED IN
SOUTHWEST REEVES COUNTY. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATES THAT
THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING SLOWLY NORTHEAST...AT 15 MPH.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.

FOR YOUR PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO
NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVlERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 7:37 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMAFReeves2 hr
May 22, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFReeves2 hr
May 22, 9:04 PM CDTTornado WarningMAFPecos, Reeves56 min
May 22, 11:15 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEctor2 hr
May 23, 9:36 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor, Ward54 min
May 23, 10:03 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor, Winkler57 min
May 23, 10:28 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor62 min
May 23, 10:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFMidland65 min
May 23, 10:50 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFAndrews55 min
May 23, 11:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor62 min
May 23, 11:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFWinkler77 min
May 23, 2:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor58 min
May 23, 2:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFMidland60 min
May 23, 3:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor28 min
May 23, 3:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFMidland50 min
May 23, 4:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLoving59 min
May 23, 5:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFUpton56 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.