Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 16, 1989Deaf Smith County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1989, 1:07 PM CDT for Deaf Smith County, Texas. It was in force for 53 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: May 16, 1989, 1:07 PM CDT (18:07 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1989, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Deaf Smith 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
May 16, 1:52 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Deaf Smith, 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

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, 7:40 AM CDT, 5 hours 27 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, 8:44 AM CDT, 4 hours 23 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Sherman	61 min
May 15, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith, Oldham	55 min
May 15, 7:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith	46 min
May 15, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Randall	57 min
May 15, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	45 min
May 15, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith, Oldham	62 min
May 15, 8:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley, Moore, Potter	66 min
May 15, 8:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong	57 min
May 15, 9:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Oldham	53 min
May 16, 11:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	67 min
May 16, 12:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Ochiltree	54 min
May 16, 1:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	45 min
May 16, 1:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith, Oldham	54 min
May 16, 2:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Oldham	49 min
May 16, 3:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	55 min
May 16, 3:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Childress	57 min
May 16, 3:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	62 min
May 16, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Collingsworth	66 min
May 16, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	59 min
May 16, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith, Oldham	55 min
May 16, 4:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	63 min
May 16, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	61 min
May 16, 5:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	43 min
May 16, 5:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	56 min
May 16, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	64 min
May 16, 11:13 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Quay	32 min
May 16, 12:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Quay	57 min
May 15, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Texas	64 min
May 16, 11:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Texas	57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.