Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

June 3, 1989Crane County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 1989, 5:53 PM CDT for Crane County, Texas. It was in force for 67 min. 4 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
Jun 3, 1989, 5:53 PM CDT (22:53 UTC)
Expired
Jun 3, 1989, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Crane 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 3, 6:01 PM CDTTornado F1Crane, TX
Jun 3, 6:58 PM CDTHail 2.5Crane, TX
Jun 3, 7:00 PM CDTTornado F0Crane, TX
Jun 3, 7:10 PM CDTHail 2.5Crane, 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, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 65 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-06-03Temperature 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-06-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 246 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
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
246 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
369 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 032253
TORMAF
TXC103-040000-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
553 PM CDT SAT JUN 3 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS
          ...NORTHERN CRANE
 
AT 449 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...POSSIBLY WITH
A TORNADO...IS IN NORTHERN CRANE COUNTY. IT IS MOVIN[G EAST AT 30 MILES
AN HOUR.
 
SEVERAL REPORTS OF LARGE HAIL...AS LARGE AS BASEBALLS...HAVE BEEN
REPORTED WITH THIS STORM.

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, Jun 3, 1:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
135 PM CDT SAT JUN 3 1989

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT SOUTH PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN...BIG BEND
THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT...

AT 128 PM CDT...A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS LOCATED 20 MILES
EAST OF ANDREWS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE IN AN
AREA 80 MILES WIDE FROM 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF SEMINOLE TO 30 MILES EAST
OF OZONA. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL AND VERY HEAVY
RAIN.  STAY TUNUED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO OR TV FOR FURTHER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 1:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
135 PM CDT SAT JUN 3 1989

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT SOUTH PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN...BIG BEND
THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT...

AT 128 PM CDT...A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS LOCATED 20 MILES
EAST OF ANDREWS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE IN AN
AREA 80 MILES WIDE FROM 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF SEMINOLE TO 30 MILES EAST
OF OZONA. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL...VERY HEAVY
RAIN AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.  STAY TUNUED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL
RADIO OR TV FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 2:42 PM CDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
135 PM CDT SAT JUN 3 1989

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT SOUTH PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN...BIG
   BEND...PANHANDLE AND CONCHO VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
   TONIGHT...

AT 231 PM CDT...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL WERE
LOCATED BETWEEN LAMESA AND BIG SPRING...ALSO NEAR SAN ANGELO AND
STERLING CITY. THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING NEAR OZONA AND WEST OF
LUBBOCK.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL...VERY HEAVY
RAIN AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

STAY TUNUED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO OR TV FOR FURTHER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE  WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, Jun 3, 4:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
442 PM CDT SAT JUN 3 1989

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR MUCH OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW
   MEXICO UNTIL 10 PM CDT...
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT SOUTH PLAINS...PERMIAN BASIN...BIG
   BEND...PANHANDLE AND CONCHO VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
   TONIGHT...

AT 430 PM CDT...THUNDERSTORMS...WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN...CONTINUED OVER
PARTS OF WEST TEXAS FROM TAHOKA TO NORTH OF LUBBOCK AND FROM WINK TO
MONAHANS EXTENDING SOUTHWEST TO NORTH OF FORT DAVIS.
OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE NOTED FROM SOUTH OF SAN ANGELO TO ABILENE AND
OVER THE BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK.

MOVEMENT WAS GENERALLY EAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 3, 3:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFReeves56 min
Jun 3, 4:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFWard60 min
Jun 3, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFReeves62 min
Jun 3, 6:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEctor60 min
Jun 3, 6:52 PM CDTTornado WarningMAFCrane68 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.