Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Albuquerque, NM

October 11, 1997Colfax County, New Mexico

NWS Albuquerque, NM issued this tornado warning at Oct 11, 1997, 7:10 PM MDT for Colfax County, New Mexico. It was in force for 30 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: Oct 11, 1997, 7:10 PM MDT (01:10 UTC)
Expired: Oct 11, 1997, 7:40 PM MDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Albuquerque, NM
Area: Whole counties

County Colfax County, NM

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 210 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:10 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 11, 4:30 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 247 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 271 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2647 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABQ 120112 RRA
TORABQ
NMC007-120140-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM
710 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBUQUERQUE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 740 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO

   ...COLFAX COUNTY
 
AT 710 PM MDT...A LARGE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING A TORNADO WAS
INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 5 MILES SOUTH OF
RATON CREWS AIRPORT MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 40-45 MPH.

AT 645 PM...SPOTTERS REPORTED A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN OVER OPEN
COUNTY JUST SOUTH OF MAXWELL. THE SEVERE STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN
EAST OF I-25 BUT RESIDENTS OF RATON AND SUGARITE STATE PARK SHOULD
REMAIN ALERT AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

IF YOU 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 YOURv HANDS.
 

&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Albuquerque, NM issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 11, 6:26 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABQ	Chaves	24 min
Oct 11, 6:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Colfax	46 min
Oct 11, 7:48 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABQ	Colfax	32 min
Oct 11, 8:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Mora	31 min
Oct 11, 9:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Colfax	40 min
Oct 11, 10:04 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Colfax, Union	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.