Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 26, NWS Lubbock, TX

September 18, 1996Garza County, Texas

NWS Lubbock, TX issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 1996, 5:36 PM CDT for Garza County, Texas. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 18, 1996, 5:36 PM CDT (22:36 UTC)
Expired
Sep 18, 1996, 6:25 PM CDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Lubbock, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Garza County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:36 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 161 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1996-09-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2245 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1996-09-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 202 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
2245 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-85 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
857 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
199 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
8.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLBB 182237
TORLBB
TXC169-182325-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
536 PM CDT WED SEP 18 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LUBBOCK TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 625 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWEST TEXAS

   ...GARZA COUNTY
 
AT 535 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY LUBBOCK DOPPLER
RADAR 7 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF POST OR 7 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF
JUSTICEBURG MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

 THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS.

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.

$$

GLP

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, Sep 18, 2:07 PM CDT, 3 hours 29 minutes before
TXZ021>044-182000-

AREA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
206 PM CDT WED SEP 18 1996

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE SOUTH PLAINS...THE EXTREME
SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...AND LOW ROLLING PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON OR
EVENING.

MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR OVER THE REGION WILL COMBINE WITH A COLD
FRONT NEAR THE TEXAS/NEW MEXICO BORDER AND AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH
OF LOW PRESSURE OVER THE INTERMOUNTAIN REGION...BOTH MOVING TO 2THE
EAST...TO PRODUCE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY
BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING.

JV

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 17, 7:09 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBDickens46 min
Sep 17, 7:51 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBKing64 min
Sep 17, 8:38 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBDickens47 min
Sep 17, 8:38 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBDickens47 min
Sep 17, 8:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCottle, King50 min
Sep 17, 9:29 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBKing46 min
Sep 17, 10:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBKing50 min
Sep 17, 11:40 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBKing3 hr
Sep 18, 12:34 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBYoakum66 min
Sep 18, 2:36 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBKing3 hr
Sep 18, 3:26 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLynn64 min
Sep 18, 5:49 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBKing116 min
Sep 18, 11:48 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBKing3 hr
Sep 18, 5:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBGarza47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.