Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 16, 1988Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 16, 1988, 3:09 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 66 min. 3 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: Apr 16, 1988, 3:09 PM MDT (21:09 UTC)
Expired: Apr 16, 1988, 4:15 PM MDT
In force: 66 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

Time	Report	Where
Apr 16, 3:48 PM MDT	Tornado F1	Lea, NM
Apr 16, 4:00 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Lea, NM
Apr 16, 4:15 PM MDT	Hail 2.75	Lea, 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, 9.2 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-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: 791 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -206 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 907 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 123 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 236 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 162109
TORMAF
NMC025-162215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
409 PM CDT (309 PM MDT) SAT APR 16 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT (415 PM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO
          ...SOUTHERN LEA
 
AT 305 PM MDT...RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 15 MILES WEST OF
JAL NEW MEXICO MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
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 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, Apr 16, 1:37 PM MDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
235 PM CDT SAT APR 16 1988

...TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PORTION OF WEST TEXAS AND
   FOR LEA COUNTY NEW MEXICO UNTIL 8 PM THIS EVENING...

AT 225 PM CDT THUNDERSTORMS...WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE INDICATED
FROM THE GUADALUPE PASS AREA TO WEST OF ARTESIA NEW MEXICO...AND FROM
SOUTH OF COAHOMA TEXAS TO SOUTHEAST OF LAMESA.

VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS LOCATED JUST NORTHWEST OF BIG SPRING TEXAS...
AND 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CARLSBAD CAVERNS IN NEW MEXICO.

MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HIGH WINDS...HAIL...
FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS...AND VERY DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 16, 1:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Eddy	68 min
Apr 16, 4:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes 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.