Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 26, 1987Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1987, 3:23 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 67 min. 1 report 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 26, 1987, 3:23 PM MDT (21:23 UTC)
Expired
May 26, 1987, 4:30 PM MDT
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

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 26, 4:23 PM MDTTornado F0Lea, NM

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 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 147 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 12:00Z on 1987-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 612 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 12:00Z on 1987-05-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 177 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
612 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
177 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 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 262123 RRA
TORMAF
NMC025-262230-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
323 PM MDT TUE MAY 26 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO
          ...LEA
 
THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND 10 MILES SOUTH OF JAL NEW
MEXICO.

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

Local storm report, May 26, 12:30 PM MDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before
POST LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1138 PM CDT MON MAY 25 1987

TIME          COUNTY             EVENT
1603 CST     WARD TXC475      PUBLIC RTPD FUNNEL 2NE OF BARSTOW.
1652 CST     WARD TXC475      PUBLIC REPORTED TORNADO 5S OF BARSTOW.
1735 CST     WARD TXC475      GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED AT PYOTE.
1746 CST     LEA NMC025       STATE POLICE REPORTED TORNADO 10-15S OF
                              HOBBS.
1748 CST     LEA NMC025       GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL AT EUNICE RPTD BY
                              STATE POLICE.
1809 CST     PECOS TXC371     SKYWARN SPOTTER RPTD TORNADO 12SW OF
             WARD TXC475      MONAHANS TX.
1823 CST     WARD TXC475      SKYWARN SPOTTER RPTD TORNADO SOUTHWEST
                              OF MONAHANS MOVING NE.
1853 CST     LEA NMC025       PUBLIC RPTD TORNADO 25SW OF HOBBS.
1906 CST     LEA NMC025       SKYWARN SPOTTER RPTD TORNADO 22SW
                              HOBBS.
1917 CST     LEA NMC025       STATE POLICE RPTD TORNADO 10W OF
                              MONUMENT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 25, 7:53 PM MDTTornado WarningMAFLea7 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 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.