Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 79, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 25, 1996, 1:58 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 62 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 25, 1996, 1:58 PM MDT (19:58 UTC)
- Expired
- May 25, 1996, 3:00 PM MDT
- In force
- 62 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 19:57 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 2:30 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Lovington, NM | |
| May 25, 2:35 PM MDT | Hail 1 | Hobbs, NM | |
| May 25, 2:45 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Hobbs, NM | |
| May 25, 3:10 PM MDT | Hail 1.75 | Hobbs, NM |
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, 8.0 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1602 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -315 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 757 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 153 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 172 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 251958 SVRMAF NMC025-252100- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 258 PM CDT (158 PM MDT) SAT MAY 25 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM MDT (400 PM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO ...LEA COUNTY AT 156 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR 56 MILES NORTH OF MENTONE OR IN THE VICINITY OF HALFWAY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS EXTENDS AND SUPERCEDES THE EARLIER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WESTERN LEA COUNTY. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... HALFWAY AND BUCKEYE. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. $$ FAGEN/MUPRDOCH
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 25, 9:27 AM MDT, 4 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 25, 9:27 AM MDT, 4 hours 31 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 1027 AM CDT SAT MAY 25 1996 OBVIOUS THAT CHANGES ARE OCCURRING THIS MORNING WITH HIGH DEW POINTS AND LOW CLOUDS. STRONG BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW CONTINUES TO PUMP IN MOISTURE...WOULD EXPECT AFTERNOON SURFACE DEW POINTS TO STAY IN MID 60S AT MAF FOR FIRST TIME THIS SEASON. IMPRESSIVE PARAMETERS BOTH DYNAMICALLY AND THERMODYNAMICALLY FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. CAPPING INVERSION SLIGHTLY STRENGTHENED IN PAST 24 HOURS AND WITHOUT DYNAMIC SUPPORT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO BREAK WITH EXPECTED HIGH TEMPS. COOLER MID LEVEL TEMPS AT ELP...BUT LITTLE ADVECTION OR MOVEMENT OF THAT COOLER AIR THIS DIRECTION. CUU BALLOON TOOK A SIESTA...SO HARD TO TELL WHAT KIND OF 700 MB TEMPS WILL BE ADVECTING INTO REGION. SPEED MAX COMING INTO AREA ACROSS MEXICO SHOULD AID IN LIFT AND MAYBE SLIGHT COOLING ALOFT. THINKING THAT CAP WILL ONLY DELAY THE ONSET OF STORMS AND WILL NOT PREVENT THEM ALL TtOGETHER. MOISTURE PRESENTLY AS FAR WEST AS MRF...THINK THAT IT WILL STAY PRETTY CLOSE TO MOUNTAINS...BUT WILL MIX OUT AT MRF. CNM 93 10 MAF 89 20 MRF 90 10 P07 90 20 MATHEWS
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 25, 10:30 AM MDT, 3 hours 28 minutes before
TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-NMZ027>029-260500- THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 1130 AM CDT (1030 AM MDT) SAT MAY 25 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: A STRONG UPPER-LEVEL STORM SYSTEM LOCATED OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES WILL BEGIN TO MOVE EAST TODAY TOWARD WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO. THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING AS THIS UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCE INTERACTS WITH A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA. AREAS EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS OF TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO WILL MOST LIKELY BE AFFECTED BY THIS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TODAY. DUE TO THE HIGHLY UNSTABLE AIRMASS PRESENT AND THE WIND PROFILE IN THE ATMOSPHERE...ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF BECOMING SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE. PEOPLE ACROSS WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO SHOULD KEEP ABREAST OF THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION. LISTEN TO RADIO...TV...OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS...WATCHES OR WARNINGS. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED. MEAD
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 6:08 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 67 min |
| May 24, 7:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Eddy, Lea | 48 min |
| May 24, 8:24 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 46 min |
| May 24, 8:50 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Lea | 35 min |
| May 25, 1:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Eddy | 50 min |
| May 25, 1:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 50 min |
| May 25, 3:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 50 min |
| May 25, 3:45 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 65 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.