Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 17, 1989Childress County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 17, 1989, 5:16 PM CDT for Childress County, Texas. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 1989, 5:16 PM CDT (22:16 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1989, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Childress County, TX

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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 157 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: 93 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -83 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1018 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 73 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 67 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAMA 172218
TORAMA
TXC075-172245-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
516 PM CDT WED MAY 17 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
          ...CHILDRESS
 
AT 513 PM CDT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY REPORTED A BRIEF
TOUCHDOWN OF A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED 2 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF CHILDRESS AND WAS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 10 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 17, 11:40 AM CDT, 5 hours 36 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1139 AM CDT WED MAY 17 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS RAPIDLY DEVELOPING IN EASTERN NEW MEXICO AND ALONG
   THE TEXAS NEW MEXICO STATE LINE...

AT 1125 AM CDT RADAR SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS IN EASTERN NEW MEXICO IN AN
AREA 20 MILES SOUTH OF CLOVIS...TO 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF TUCUMCARI TO
ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTH OF CLAYTON.  OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN WESTERN
BAILEY COUNTY OF THE NORTHWEST TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS AND IN THE NORTHWEST
TEXAS PANHANDLE.

SMALL HAIL...BRIEF RAIN AND LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE AT THIS TIME.
HOWEVER...THE ADDITIONAL RAIN MAY CAUSE FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND FLOOD
PRONE AREAS DUE TO THE GROUND BEING WET AND SATaURATED ALREADY.

PERSONS NEAR THESE STORMS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THESE POSSIBILITIES.  KEEP
TUNED TO RADIO OR TV FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS WAS TO THE NORTH AT 15 TO 20 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:00 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	3 hr
May 16, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Potter	61 min
May 16, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Hutchinson	60 min
May 16, 8:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Ochiltree	62 min
May 16, 9:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Carson	64 min
May 16, 9:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson	64 min
May 17, 12:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Parmer	64 min
May 17, 1:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Parmer	62 min
May 17, 2:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith	59 min
May 17, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley	63 min
May 17, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham, Potter	59 min
May 17, 3:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Randall, Swisher	69 min
May 17, 4:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	65 min
May 17, 4:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hall	67 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.