Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 25, 1987Ward County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1987, 5:51 PM CDT for Ward County, Texas. It was in force for 39 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 25, 1987, 5:51 PM CDT (22:51 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1987, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Ward 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 25, 5:52 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Ward, 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 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 98 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1266 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1039 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 252251
TORMAF
TXC475-252345-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
551 PM CDT MON MAY 25 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT AND A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS
          ...WESTERN WARD
 
A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND...SOUTH AND WEST OF BARSTOW...AT 552 PM
CDT.
 
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 POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS5 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 25, 4:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
433 PM CDT MON MAY 25 1987

AT 425 PM CDT...A VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED OVER SOUTHWEST
TEXAS 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WINK. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTH AT 10 MILES
AN HOUR.

STRONG GUSTY WINDS..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..SMALL HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAIN
CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. FLOODING WILL ALSO OCCURR IN FLOOD
PRONE AREAS.

OTHER ISOLATED THUNDERSHOWERS WERE FORMING OVER WEST TEXAS FROM WEST
OF LUBBOCK AND 18 MILES SOUTHEAST OF PECOS. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE
NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 9:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	54 min
May 25, 10:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	57 min
May 25, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ward	59 min
May 25, 5:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Loving, Ward	42 min
May 25, 5:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Ward	99 min
May 25, 6:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	54 min
May 25, 6:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Pecos	63 min

Nearby

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