Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Lubbock, TX

May 15, 1995Motley County, Texas

NWS Lubbock, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 1995, 6:59 PM CDT for Motley County, Texas. It was in force for 46 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 15, 1995, 6:59 PM CDT (23:59 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 1995, 7:45 PM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Lubbock, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Motley County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:02 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 15, 7:20 PM CDTTornado F0Flomot, 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

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 154 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 1995-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 8 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1995-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 74 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-647 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1263 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 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 KLBB 152359
TORLBB
TXC345-160045-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
659 PM CDT MON MAY 15 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LUBBOCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN MOTLEY COUNTY
 
AT 655 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER NORTHERN MOTLEY COUNTY NEAR THE COMMUNITY OF
FLOMOT. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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 15, 3:35 PM CDT, 3 hours 24 minutes before
TXZ027>043-152140-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
335 PM CDT MON MAY 15 1995

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE WESTERN SOUTH PLAINS...

AT 332 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN NEW MEXICO AND
THE WESTERN SOUTH PLAINS.  THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
THE BAILEY-LAMB COUNTY BORDER FIVE MILES WEST OF SUDAN.  THIS STORM WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL MOVE NEAR SPRINGLAKE
BY 4 PM.

THIS STORM MAY PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN, FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND HAIL AS
IT PASSES OVERHEAD.

AT SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING STORM...DARKENING SKIES...LIGHTNING AND
INCREASING WIND...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.  TUNE IN NOAA WEATHER
RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER
INFORMATION.

JW

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 4:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHale, Lamb51 min
May 15, 4:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCochran47 min
May 15, 5:16 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBYoakum44 min
May 15, 5:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHale50 min
May 15, 5:38 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBHale52 min
May 15, 5:55 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBTerry50 min
May 15, 6:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBailey44 min
May 15, 6:15 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBHale45 min
May 15, 6:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLubbock40 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1995Every tornado warning in 1995Tornadoes in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.