Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 12, 1994Ector County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1994, 1:18 PM CDT for Ector County, Texas. It was in force for 57 min. 1 report 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, 1:18 PM CDT (18:18 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 1994, 2:15 PM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Ector County, TX

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 12, 1:25 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Goldsmith, 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, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 34 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: 612 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -154 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 770 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 121818
TORMAF
TXC135-121915-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
118 PM CDT THU MAY 12 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  215 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST TEXAS
 
   ...ECTOR COUNTY
 
AT 115 PM CDT...JUST NORTH OF GOLDSMITH A TORNADO WAS SPOTTED.
MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST. TAKE COVER .
 
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 BODYh.  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

Local storm report, May 12, 10:20 AM CDT, 2 hours 58 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, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Howard	58 min
May 11, 7:17 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Howard	118 min
May 11, 7:23 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Pecos	3 hr
May 11, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	68 min
May 11, 8:46 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Upton	3 hr
May 11, 9:14 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Glasscock	3 hr
May 12, 12:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Andrews, Gaines	3 hr
May 12, 1:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Crane, Pecos	56 min
May 12, 2:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	62 min
May 12, 3:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Pecos	117 min
May 12, 3:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Upton	117 min
May 12, 3:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Gaines	59 min
May 12, 3:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	65 min
May 12, 4:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Midland	59 min
May 12, 5:05 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Pecos	3 hr
May 12, 5:05 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Upton	3 hr
May 12, 5:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Martin	2 hr
May 12, 6:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Borden, Howard	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.