Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 9, 1996Gray County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1996, 6:10 PM CDT for Gray County, Texas. It was in force for 35 min. 4 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 9, 1996, 6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1996, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Gray County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:12 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

Time	Report	Where
May 9, 6:20 PM CDT	Hail 1	Laketon, TX
May 9, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Laketon, TX
May 9, 6:32 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Laketon, TX
May 9, 6:35 PM CDT	Hail 4	Laketon, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 83 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: 598 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -474 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2211 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 216 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 KAMA 092309
TORAMA
TXC179-092345-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
610 PM CDT THU MAY 9 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CDT
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN GRAY COUNTY
 
AT 6:00 PM CDT, DOPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE DEVELOPING TORNADO IN
NORHTEAST GRAY COUNTY MOVING ALONG HWY 152 BETWEEN HEATON AND LAKETON.
THE STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
 
 
IF YOU LIVE IN A HOME OR APARTMENT...SEEK SHELTER IN THE INNERMOST
PORTION OF THE BUILDING ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. GET TO A BASEMENT IF
ONE IS AVAILABLE. AVOID WINDOWS AND hPROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING
DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS...BLANKETS OR PILLOWS. IF SIRENS GO OFF...DO
NOT RUN OUTSIDE. THE SIRENS MEAN YOU ARE IN DANGER. SEEK SHELTER.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	25 min
May 9, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray	64 min
May 9, 5:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Gray	26 min
May 9, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	63 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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.