Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1988, 4:25 PM CST for Wichita County, Texas. It was in force for 60 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
- Mar 1, 1988, 4:25 PM CST (22:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 1, 1988, 5:25 PM CST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Fort Worth, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Wichita 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 5:15 PM CST | Hail 1.75 | Wichita, 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
Fort Sill, OK (KFSI), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 79 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1777 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 61 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 176 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KSPS 012226 TORSPS TXC485-012325- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA FALLS TX 425 PM CST TUE MAR 1 1988 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 525 PM FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...WICHITA THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR LAKE DIRVERION MOVEMENT WAS TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST INTO EXTREME SOUTHWEST WICHITA COUNTY. 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 CARS AND MOBILE HOMMES FOR A RIENFORCED 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, Mar 1, 11:37 AM CST, 4 hours 48 minutes before
NORTH TEXAS SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FT WORTH TX 1100 AM CST TUE MAR 1 1988 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON AND LATE TONIGHT. THE COLD FRONT WHICH MOVED THROUGH AREA ON MONDAY WAS WORKING ITS WAY BACK AS A WARM FRONT LATE THIS MORNING. AS OF 11 AM IT WAS LOCATED IN THE VCINITY OF ABILENE TO SHERMAN BEFORE DISSIPATING OR WASHING OUT TO THE EAST. THIS WARM FRONT IS MOVING TO THE NORTH BUT COULD PROVIDE ENOUGH CONVERGENCE WHICH COMBINED WITH AFTERNOON HEATING COULD SET OFF SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS. THE MORNING SOUDINGS SHOW THE AIRMASS OVER NORTH TEXAS TO BE UNSTABLE AND WITH LITTLE CAPPING AT THE LOWER LEVELS. THE WINDS AT THE LOWER LEVELS ALSO SHOW SOME TURNING WITH HEIGHTH BUT VELOCITIES ARE RELATIVELY WEAK UP THROUGH 500 MILLIBARS. SO THE LIKELYHOOD OF THUNDERSTORMS HAS GONE UP OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS SINCE THE 4 AM FORECAST. HOWEVER WITH WEAK WINDS ALOFT TORNADIC STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE STEEP LAPSE RATES ALOFT HAIL COULD BE A POSSIBILITY. SPOTTERS IN THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS SHOULD BE MONITORING THE LOCAL RADIOS OR CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. SIGNIFICANT THUNDERSTORM OUTBREAK IS NOT EXPECTED HOWEVER UNTIL AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES GET INTO THE LOW TO MID 70S. GENERAL MOVEMENT OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE TO THE NORTHEAST IF AND WHEN THEY FORM LATE THIS AFTERNOON. AS THE WARM FRONT CONTINUES TO MOVE TO THE NORTH TONIGHT AND GENERALLY OUT OF THE FORECAST AREA...A DRY LINE WILL BE FORMING OVER WEST TEXAS. A SHORT WAVE WILL MOVING OUT THE THE UPPER TROUGH LOCATED OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES THIS AFTERNOON AND SHOULD BE REACTING WITH THIS DRY LINE SOMETIME TONIGHT. THESE STORMS COULD AND SHOULD BE AFFECTING THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS BEFORE SUNRISE OR AT THE LEAST SOMETIME AROUND SUNRISE. THE SEVERITY OF THESE STORMS REMAINS TO BE SEEN BUT ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS SHOULD CONTINUE TO DESTABILIZE THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS WITH THE ADVENT OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND CONINUED COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT. THEREFORE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT FOR THE WESTERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 3:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Stonewall | 60 min |
| Mar 1, 4:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Haskell | 60 min |
| Mar 1, 5:00 PM CST | Tornado Warning | FWD | Wichita | 45 min |
| Mar 1, 5:02 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Haskell | 43 min |
| Mar 1, 5:35 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Wichita | 55 min |
| Mar 1, 5:35 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Knox | 25 min |
| Mar 1, 5:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Throckmorton | 59 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.