Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 12, 1989Hartley County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1989, 6:38 PM CDT for Hartley County, Texas. It was in force for 37 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 12, 1989, 6:38 PM CDT (23:38 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1989, 7:15 PM CDT
In force
37 min
Issued by
NWS Amarillo, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Hartley 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, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 106 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 1989-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -202 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1137 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-213 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 122341
TORAMA
TXC205-130015-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
638 PM CDT FRI MAY 12 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
          ...EASTERN HARTLEY
 
A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY THE DALHART POLICE DEPARTMENT 5 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF CHANNING. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES AN
HOUR. GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL WAS ALSO REPORTED COVERING THE GROUND.
 
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 SHELTERq 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 12, 2:43 PM CDT, 3 hours 55 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
235 PM CDT FRI MAY 12 1989

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 210 CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT FOR
   BRISCOE...CASTRO...CHILDRESS...HALL...PRMER AND SWISHER COUNTIES
   OF THE SOUTH TEXAS PANHANDLE...

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 100 AM SATURDAY FOR HALL AND
   CHILDRESS COUNTY OF THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 225 PM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTH
HALL COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

ELSEWHERE...LESS INTENSE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED
BETWEEN CHILDRESS AND LUBBOCK TEXAS.

AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM WAS DEVELOPING RAPIDLY ON THE TEXAS/NEW MEXICO
STATE LINE...SOUTHWEST OF DALHART. THIS STORM MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL
AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...AS IT MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN
HOUR.

PERSONS IN THE WATCH AREAS SHOULD RAMAIN ALERT AND LISTSEN FOR LATER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WAR@NINGS.
Special weather statement, May 12, 2:49 PM CDT, 3 hours 49 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
235 PM CDT FRI MAY 12 1989

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 210 CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT FOR
   BRISCOE...CASTRO...CHILDRESS...HALL...PRMER AND SWISHER COUNTIES
   OF THE SOUTH TEXAS PANHANDLE...

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 100 AM SATURDAY FOR HALL AND
   CHILDRESS COUNTIES OF THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 225 PM CDT AMARILLO RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTH
HALE COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

ELSEWHERE...LESS INTENSE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED
BETWEEN CHILDRESS AND LUBBOCK TEXAS.

AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM WAS DEVELOPING RAPIDLY ON THE TEXAS/NEW MEXICO
STATE LINE...SOUTHWEST OF DALHART. THIS STORM MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL
AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...AS IT MOVES TO THE NORTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN
HOUR.

PERSONS IN THE WATCH AREAS SHOULD RAMAIN ALERT AND LISTEN FOR LATER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLJE WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, May 12, 5:49 PM CDT, 49 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
545 PM CDT FRI MAY 12 1989

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR MUCH OF THE TEXAS
   AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES...
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 100 AM FOR THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE...

AT 530 PM CDT THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED IN THE NORTHWEST PANHANDLE OF
TEXAS STRECTCHING INTO THE WESTERN PANHANDLE OF OKLAHOMA. THE THUNDER
STORMS HAD DECREASED IN INTENSITY OVER THE PAST HOUR..HOWEVER
GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED AT 500 PM 5 MILES SOUTH OF HARTLEY.
SEVERAL FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE ALSO BEEN REPORTED DURING THE PAST HOUR
5 MILES WEST OF STRATFORD..IN SHERMAN COUNTY.

ELSEWHERE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED OVER PORTIONS OF THE
TEXAS PANHANDLE AND SOUTH PLAINS INTO WESTERN OKLAHOMA. THE THUNDER
STORMS WITH THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL WERE LOCATED IN FLOYD AND MOTLEY
COUNTIES OF THE TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS.

DUE TO THE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER THE PAST 240 HOURS OVER PORTIONS
OF THE PANHANDLE..LOCALIZED STREET AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING IS
POSSIBLE WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS AS THEY MOVE TOWARD THE NORTH
EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

SC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 12, 3:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADallam, Hartley58 min
May 12, 4:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHartley62 min
May 12, 5:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHartley64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.