Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Amarillo, TX

September 17, 1996Hansford County, Hutchinson County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 1996, 11:24 PM CDT for Hansford County, Hutchinson County, Texas. It was in force for 61 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: Sep 17, 1996, 11:24 PM CDT (04:24 UTC)
Expired: Sep 18, 1996, 12:25 AM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hansford County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:23 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	Remark
Sep 17, 11:29 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Pringle, TX
Sep 17, 11:42 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Pringle, 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 00:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 2692 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 976 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.6
Supercell composite: 18.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAMA 180423
TORAMA
TXC195-233-180525-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1124 PM CDT TUE SEP 17 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1225 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE

   ...SOUTHERN HANSFORD COUNTY
   ...NORTHWESTERN HUTCHINSON COUNTY
 
AT 1124 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY AMARILLO
WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR 22 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SPEARMAN OR 5
MILES SOUTH OF MORSE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO ARE...
MORSE                       BY 1130 PM CDT
SPEARMAN                    BY 1218 AM CDT

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 SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A
CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY. 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.

NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Sep 17, 8:19 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 17, 8:19 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
820 PM CDT TUE SEP 17 1996

TROUGH/CONVERGENCE LINE ASSOCIATED WITH OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY
CONTINUES TO STEADILY PUSH WEST ACROSS THE WESTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE.
CONVECTION WHICH FIRED ALONG THIS BOUNDARY LATE THIS AFTERNOON HAS
INCREASED IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY WITH STRONG TO SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA.  NOT MUCH CHANGE NEEDED IN THIS
EVENING FORECAST EXCEPT TWEAKING OF PRECIP WORDING FROM CONDITIONAL
TO AREAL COVERAGE.

.AMA...
TX...NONE.
OK...NONE.

HOLSENBECK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	63 min
Sep 17, 8:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham, Potter	59 min
Sep 17, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore	62 min
Sep 17, 9:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Moore, Potter	61 min
Sep 17, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	59 min
Sep 17, 10:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Moore	61 min
Sep 17, 10:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	61 min
Sep 17, 11:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray, Roberts	64 min
Sep 17, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Ochiltree	64 min
Sep 18, 12:24 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Hansford	61 min
Sep 18, 12:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	62 min
Sep 18, 2:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Ochiltree	66 min
Sep 18, 2:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray	31 min
Sep 18, 2:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	60 min
Sep 18, 2:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	54 min
Sep 18, 3:15 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Lipscomb, Ochiltree	3 hr
Sep 18, 3:15 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Hansford	3 hr
Sep 18, 3:29 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	AMA	Ochiltree	4 hr

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.