Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 9, 1996Ward County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1996, 4:39 PM CDT for Ward County, Texas. It was in force for 51 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
May 9, 1996, 4:39 PM CDT (21:39 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1996, 5:30 PM CDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Ward County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:42 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 9, 4:53 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Pyote, TX
May 9, 5:01 PM CDTHail 1Pyote, 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 98 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 1996-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1142 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 1996-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 48 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
1142 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-452 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1579 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

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 May 9, 3:18 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 3:18 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
315 PM CDT THU MAY 9 1996

ISOLATED CONVECTION ALREADY FIRED OVER DAVIS MOUNTAINS AND MOVING
INTO REEVES COUNTY. DESPITE HIGHER-THAN-EXPECTED DEWPOINTS HANGING
ON FARTHER E...CONVECTIVE TEMPS STILL SEVERAL DEGREES SHY OF BEING
REACHED...AND 12Z ETA HINTED AT WEAK ISENTROPIC DOWNGLIDE OVER
PERMIAN BASIN...WHICH MAY BE STRENGTHENING CAP THIS AFTERNOON. GIVEN
THESE UNCERTANTIES...AGREE WITH LBB ABOUT LEAVING OUT MENTION OF
RAIN IN AREAS EAST OF THE PECOS RIVER FOR NOW.

GOES-9 W/V IMAGERY SHOWING INTENSIFYING SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS
AZ. ETA PROGS LOW-LEVEL JET TO REDEVELOP TONIGHT AHEAD OF THIS
FEATURE...WHICH SHOULD KEEP BOUNDARY LAYER MIXED AND MOIST FOR
ANOTHER BOUT OF MILD OVERNIGHT TEMPS. TRACK OF SHORTWAVE APPEARS
FAIRLY FAR SOUTH...IN AGREEMENT WITH FAVORED ETA.  CONSIDERING THIS
WAVE STAYS UNPHASED WITH NRN STREAM...EXPECT THAT COLD FRONT WILL
STAY N OF FA UNTIL FRI NIGHT WITH STRONG SLY FLOW AHEAD OF WAVE AND
A LACK OF A STRONG COLD SURGE BEHIND FRONT. THIS COULD MAKE FRIDAY
MUCH WARMER THAN GUIDANCE...WITH PREFRONTAL WARMING AND SWLY FLOW
AHEAD OF FRONT...BUT WILL STICK CLOSE TO GUIDANCE FOR NOW. AGREE
WITH KEEPING POPS FOR CONTINUITY. THANKS TO LBB FOR INPUT.

CNM  63/-
MAF  67/-
MRF  54/-
P07  67/-

TURNAGE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 9, 11:48 AM CDT, 4 hours 51 minutes before
TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-NMZ027>029-100500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1146 AM CDT (1046 AM MDT) THU MAY 9 1996

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   CULBERSON  GLASSCOCK   MARTIN    REAGAN   UPTON
BORDEN    DAWSON     HOWARD      MIDLAND   REEVES   WARD
BREWSTER  ECTOR      JEFF DAVIS  PECOS     SCURRY   WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES     LOVING      PRESIDIO  TERRELL

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

SYNOPSIS:

THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN
THE DAVIS AND GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. ALTHOUGH
MODERATE ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITY IS IN PLACE OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA...
UNFAVORABLE WINDS ALOFT SHOULD KEEP STORMS MOSTLY DISORGANIZED AND
SHORT-LIVED. THERE IS A CHANCE THAT A FEW STORMS COULD BECOME
BRIEFLY SEVERE AS THEY MOVE EAST OFF THE MOUNTAINS...BUT THIS THREAT
SHOULD STAY WEST O*F THE PECOS RIVER.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

TURNAGE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 3:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFReeves32 min
May 9, 5:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFWinkler47 min
May 9, 6:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos47 min
May 9, 6:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos48 min
May 9, 5:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.