Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 10, NWS Albuquerque, NM
NWS Albuquerque, NM issued this tornado warning at Dec 2, 1997, 3:11 PM MST for Chaves County, New Mexico. It was in force for 49 min. 1 report 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
- Dec 2, 1997, 3:11 PM MST (22:11 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 2, 1997, 4:00 PM MST
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Albuquerque, NM
- Area
- Whole counties
County Chaves County, NM
The radar
The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 157 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2, 3:25 PM MST | Tornado F0 | Hagerman, NM | A thunderstorm which developed along a cold front moving into south central Chaves County produced a small, brief tornado. The tornado formed in an environment of northeast surface winds and moderate southwest winds aloft. This is only the second recorded torn |
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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 264 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 489 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 77 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 130 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KABQ 022211 TORABQ NMC005-022300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 311 PM MST TUE DEC 2 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBUQUERQUE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO ...SOUTHERN CHAVES COUNTY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATES A RAPIDLY DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORM WITH POSSIBLE TORNADO DEVELOPMENT 15 MILES SOUTH OF THE ROSWELL AIRPORT. STORM SPOTTERS REPORT FUNNEL CLOUDS FORMING AND DISSIPATING RAPIDLY IN THIS AREA. THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 15 MILES AND IS APPROACHING THE COMMUNITIES OF DEXTER AND HAGERMAN IN SOUTHERN CHAVES COUNTIES. IF vYOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes in 1997
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.