Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 12, 1994Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1994, 11:30 AM MDT for Eddy County, New Mexico. It was in force for 45 min. 2 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: May 12, 1994, 11:30 AM MDT (17:30 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 1994, 12:15 PM MDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Eddy County, NM

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 12, 11:40 AM MDT	Tornado F0	Carlsbad, NM	Several brief tornadoes were reported over open rangeland of eastern Eddy County.
May 12, 11:55 AM MDT	Tornado F0	Artesia, NM	Several brief tornadoes were reported over open rangeland of eastern Eddy County.

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

Holloman AFB, NM (KHMN), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 173 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: 70 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -136 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1431 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 137 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 KROW 121732
TORROW
NMC015-121815-

BULLETIN...EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROSWELL NM
1130 AM MDT THU MAY 12 1994

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ROSWELL HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE...

IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXCIO...

            EASTERN EDDY COUNTY

AT 1125 AM MDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 10 TO 15 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST
OF THE WHIP SITE IN EASTERN EDDY COUNTY AND WAS MOVING NORTH AT ABOUT
20 MILES AN HOUR.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER OR A
CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE
HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER OR STORM DAMAGE CALL YOUR LOCAL LAW ENFORCE-
MENT AGENCY AND ASK THEM TO RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NEAREST NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.

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

Local storm report, May 12, 9:20 AM MDT, 2 hours 10 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1020 AM CDT THU MAY 12 1994

...REPORTS OF SEVERE EVENTS OCCURRING ON 12 MAY 1994...

TIME                   COUNTY         EVENT

1325 CDT               ECTOR          TORNADO BRIEF TOUCHDOWN JUST
                       TXC135         NORTH OF GOLDSMITH.

1354 CDT               CRANE          TORNADO BRIEF TOUCHDOWN 9 MILES
                       TXC103         NORTH OF IMPERIAL IN PECOS COUNTY.

1448 CDT               GAINES         POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST SOUTHWEST
                       TXC165         SEMINOLE.

1532 CDT               GAINES         3/4 INCH HAIL SOUTHWEST CORNER OF
                       TXC165         COUNTY.
1610 CDT               ECTOR          QUARTER SIZE HAIL WEST ODESSA.
                       TXC135

1628 CDT               UPTON          DIME HAIL 6 MILES SOUTH OF
                       TXC461         MCCAMEY.

1640 CDT               PECOS          GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL COVERED THE
                       TXC371         GROUND 6 MILES NORTH OF BAKERSFIELD.

1834 CDT               HOWARD         QUARTER SIZE HAIL IN BIG SPRING.
                       TXC227

1910 CDT               PECOS          GOLFBALL HAIL 30 SOUTHEAST OF
                       TXC371         FORT STOCKTON ON HIGHWAY 285.
/

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 6:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	56 min
May 11, 7:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	55 min
May 12, 8:45 AM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Lea	5 hr
May 12, 1:25 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Lea	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

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.