Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 11, 1989Midland County, Upton County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 11, 1989, 7:30 PM CDT for Midland County, Upton County, Texas. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 11, 1989, 7:30 PM CDT (00:30 UTC)
Expired
May 11, 1989, 8:30 PM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Midland County, TX, Upton 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 40 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 00:00Z on 1989-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1239 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1989-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 47 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1239 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-76 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
819 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
0.7

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 11, 3:03 PM CDT, 4 hours 27 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
248 PM CDT THU MAY 11 1989

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF WEST TEXAS INCLUDING THE
MIDLAND/ODESSA AREA UNTIL 10 PM CDT TONIGHT...

AT 225 PM CDT...A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS 30 MILES NORTH-
WEST OF FORT DAVIS. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS AND RAINSHOWERS WERE WIDELY
SCATTERED BETWEEN FORT DAVIS AND KERMIT.
RAINSHOWERS WERE BETWEEN ABILENE AND LAMESA...AND A RAINSHOWER WAS WEST
OF WHITES CITY NEW MEXICO. NO MOVEMENT HAD BEEN DETERMINED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO OR TV FOR LATEST DETAILS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 11, 7:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos60 min
May 11, 9:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFAndrews62 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.