Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 16, 1988, 4:53 PM CDT for Andrews County, Texas. It was in force for 67 min. 2 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, 4:53 PM CDT (21:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 16, 1988, 6:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 67 min
- Issued by
- NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Andrews 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 16, 5:17 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Andrews, TX | |
| Apr 16, 5:20 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Andrews, 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, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 57 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KMAF 162153 RRA
TORMAF
TXC003-162300-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
453 PM CDT SAT APR 16 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN NORTHWEST TEXAS
...ANDREWS
AT 4:50 CDT...A STORM CHASER REPORTED TWO TORNADOES SOUTHWEST OF
ANDREWS TEXAS ON THE LEA COUNTY NEW MEXICO...ANDREWS COUNTY LINE
MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
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
FLO&OR 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, 2:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 16 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, 3:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Borden | 57 min |
| Apr 16, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Gaines | 60 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.