Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 16, 1989Quay County, New Mexico

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1989, 10:13 AM MDT for Quay County, New Mexico. It was in force for 32 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 1989, 10:13 AM MDT (16:13 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1989, 10:45 AM MDT
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Amarillo, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Quay County, NM

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, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 169 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 1989-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 750 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 247 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
750 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
247 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
7.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAMA 161614
TORAMA
NMC037-161645-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1113 AM CDT (1013 AM MDT) TUE MAY 16 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 AM CDT (1045 AM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NEW MEXICO
          ...SOUTHERN QUAY
 
AT 950 AM MDT THE FIRE DEPARTMEMT AT HOUSE IN SOUTHERN QUAY COUNTY
REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND 3 MILES EAST OF MCALISTER MOVING
NORTHEAST. RADAR INDICATES THE ASSOCIATED STORM TO BE MOVING TO THE
NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
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.

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 16, 5:35 AM MDT, 4 hours 38 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
634 PM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FORMING NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND NORTHWEST
   TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 625 PM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL EXTENDING FROM NEAR BEAVER OKLAHOMA
SOUTHWEST TO NEAR DALHART TEXAS TO TUCUMCARI NEW MEXICO TO 30 MILES
NORTH OF FORT SUMNER NEW MEXICO. STRONGEST PORTION OF THE LINE WAS
BETWEEN TUCUMCARI AND THE TEXAS/NEW MEXICO STATE LINE...SOUTHWEST OF
DALHART.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS ALONG AND EAST OF THE LINE CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WIND2...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL DURING ITS
PASSAGE.
Special weather statement, May 16, 5:40 AM MDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY...CORR FOR TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
634 AM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FORMING NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO AND NORTHWEST
   TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 625 AM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL EXTENDING FROM NEAR BEAVER OKLAHOMA
SOUTHWEST TO NEAR DALHART TEXAS TO TUCUMCARI NEW MEXICO TO 30 MILES
NORTH OF FORT SUMNER NEW MEXICO. STRONGEST PORTION OF THE LINE WAS
BETWEEN TUCUMCARI AND THE TEXAS/NEW MEXICO STATE LINE...SOUTHWEST OF
DALHART.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS ALONG AND EAST OF THE LINE CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAIN...STR6ONG
GUSTY WIND...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL DURING ITS
PASSAGE.
Special weather statement, May 16, 6:40 AM MDT, 3 hours 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
738 AM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN THE NORTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 730 AM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL EXTENDING FROM NEAR STRATFORD...
SOUTHWEST ACROSS DALHART TO THE CANADIAN RIVER ON THE TEXAS/NEW
MEXICO STATE LINE.

STRONGEST PORTION OF THE LINE WAS BETWEEN DALHART AND THE CANADIAN
RIVER.

MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 10 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS ALONG AND EAST OF THE LINE CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WIND...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL DURING ITS
PASSAGE.
Special weather statement, May 16, 7:44 AM MDT, 2 hours 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
840 AM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED ACROSS THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF
THE TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 830 AM CDT A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
SMALL HAIL EXTENDING FROM JUST NORTHEAST OF DALHART SOUTHWESTWARD
TO JUST NORTH OF ADRIAN.  ELSEWHERE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
WERE INDICATED ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE.

STRONGEST PORTION OF THE LINE WAS JUST EAST OF CHANNING WHERE VERY
SMALL HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN WAS REPORTED.

MOVEMENT WAS EAST AROUND 20 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS ALONG AND EAST OF THE LINE CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WIND...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLE HAIL DURING ITS
PASSAGE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 11:18 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAQuay57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes in 1989

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.