Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 202, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 31, 1996Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 1996, 5:30 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 65 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
Jul 31, 1996, 5:30 PM MDT (23:30 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1996, 6:35 PM MDT
In force
65 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:33 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, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 147 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 1996-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 21 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 1996-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 28 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-315 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1995 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 31, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 34 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
254 PM CDT WED JUL 31 1996

LATEST 88D IMAGERY SHOWING TSRA MOVING WEST OFF THE DAVIS AND
GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS AT THIS TIME. IN NORTHERN FA...SURFACE BOUNDARY
MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS AFDMAF HAS BECOME DIFFICULT TO DETECT IN
SURFACE DATA. AGREE WITH LBB THAT THIS FEATURE SHOULD CONTINUE TO
WEAKEN AND MOVE NORTH AS SOUTHEAST SURFACE FLOW STRENGTHENS THIS
EVENING PER RUC DATA. THE SHORTWAVE ADVERTISED BY MODELS TO DIVE
SOUTHEAST TOWARD NORTHERN FA TONIGHT REMAINS UNSEEN ON WATER VAPOR
IMAGERY. GIVEN TROUBLES MODELS HAVE HAD HANDLING NORTHWEST FLOW
SHORTWAVES LATELY...AM TEMPTED TO DROP MENTION OF RAIN FOR NORTHERN
FA AFTER SUNSET WITH A LACK OF SURFACE AND UPPER FORCING.

FOR TEMPERATURES...A COMBINATION OF PERSISTENCE AND GUIDANCE SEEMS
LIKE THE WAY TO GO IN THIS STAGNANT WEATHER REGIME. WILL EXPECT
ATMOSPHERE TO GRADUALLY DRY OUT ALOFT AS FLOW BECOMES MORE ZONAL
OVER THE USA DURING THE NEXT FEW DAYS. THANKS TO LBB FOR INPUT.

CNM  73/1
MAF  73/1
MRF  62/3
P07  76/0

TURNAGE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 30, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFGaines65 min
Jul 31, 3:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Mexico, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.