Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Amarillo, TX

July 9, 1988Hansford County, Ochiltree County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 1988, 3:26 PM CDT for Hansford County, Ochiltree County, Texas. It was in force for 64 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 9, 1988, 3:26 PM CDT (20:26 UTC)
Expired
Jul 9, 1988, 4:30 PM CDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Amarillo, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Hansford County, TX, Ochiltree 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, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 129 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-07-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-07-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 3 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1086 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 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 KAMA 092027
SVRAMA
TXC195-357-092130-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
326 PM CDT SAT JUL 9 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
          ...HANSFORD...WESTERN OCHILTREE
 
AT 320 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHERN
HANSFORD COUNTY...NEAR HITCHLAND. MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 10
MILES AN HOUR.
 
LARGE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. DUE TO
ITS SLOW MOVEMENT...FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS IS LIKELY.
 
 
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
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Jul 9, 2:49 PM CDT, 37 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
249 PM CDT SAT JUL 9  1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINS IN THE CENTRAL AND
EASTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE...

AT 228 PM CDT...AN AREA OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW VERY STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAINS WAS LOCATED FROM NORTHWESTERN
OKLAHOMA ACROSS THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE INTO THE EXTREME NORTHERN PORTION
OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE.  STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN THE SOUTH-
EAST CORNER OF TEXAS COUNTY AND EASTERN BEAVER COUNTY.  OTHER STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED ACROSS THE TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS...SOUTHEASTERN
TEXAS PANHANDLE...AND EXTREME WESTERN OKLAHOMA.  THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM
WAS LOCATED 20 MILES WEST OF LITTLEFIELD TEXAS.

MOVEMENT OF ALL PRECIPITATION WAS EAST AT 5 TO 10 MILES AN HOUR.

DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS OVER ALREADY SATURATED GROUND
FLOODING OF HIGHWAYS AND LOW LYING AREAS IS POSSIBLE.  STAY TUNED TO NOAA
WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL RADIO/TV STATIONS FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.