Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 26, 1995Reeves County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1995, 4:50 PM CDT for Reeves County, Texas. It was in force for 55 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 26, 1995, 4:50 PM CDT (21:50 UTC)
Expired: May 26, 1995, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Reeves County, TX

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 26, 4:55 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Reeves, TX	Reports by public and USDA officials. Tornado reported by public near Lake Balmorhea. Golf ball-size hail fell along U.S. Highway 285 and nickel-size hail fell along State Highway 17.

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, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 978 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -91 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 232 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 275 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 5.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 262151
TORMAF
TXC389-262245-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
450 PM CDT FRI MAY 26 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST TEXAS
 
   ...SOUTHERN REEVES COUNTY
 
AT 450 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY A CITIZEN NEAR BALMORHEA LAKE
MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES PER HOUR. DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED
THAT THIS TORNADO WILL BE MOVING NEAR BALMORHEA AND NEARBY HIGHWAY
I-10 BY 500 PM CDT.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION
FOR THE LATEST WE*ATHER INFORMATION.
 
 
&

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 26, 11:30 AM CDT, 5 hours 20 minutes before

TXZ045>047-050>052-058>063-067>069-075-082-NMZ027>029-270500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1130 AM CDT (1030 AM MDT) FRI MAY 26 1995

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   DAWSON    GLASSCOCK  MARTIN    REEVES   WARD
BORDEN    ECTOR     HOWARD     MIDLAND   TERRELL  WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES    LOVING     PECOS     UPTON

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

SYNOPSIS: THE COMBINATION OF A MOIST UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE AND
STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHING THE FORECAST AREA THIS
AFTERNOON WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS. RESIDENTS OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO
SHOULD KEPEP A WEATHER EYE ON THE SKY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED.

MURDOCH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 8:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Terrell	47 min
May 25, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Terrell	46 min
May 26, 1:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock	59 min
May 26, 3:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Loving	56 min
May 26, 4:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reeves	59 min
May 26, 4:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reeves	56 min
May 26, 5:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Andrews, Ector	57 min
May 26, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ward	41 min
May 26, 5:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	61 min
May 26, 5:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane, Ector	55 min
May 26, 5:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Pecos	64 min
May 26, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	60 min
May 26, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane, Upton	58 min
May 26, 6:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock	64 min
May 26, 6:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	31 min

Nearby

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