Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 85, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 28, 1997Hartley County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 28, 1997, 7:50 PM CDT for Hartley County, Texas. It was in force for 55 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: May 28, 1997, 7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1997, 8:45 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Hartley County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:50 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
May 28, 5:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 400 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1117 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 317 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 6.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

700 
WUUS1 KAMA 290051 RRA
SVRAMA
TXC205-290145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
750 PM CDT WED MAY 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  845 PM CDT
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
 
   ...EASTERN HARTLEY COUNTY
 
AT 7:50 PM DOPPLER RADAR IN AMARILLO INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
10 MILES EAST OF DALHART MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MPH.
 
 
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.  MOVE INDOORS AND AWAY FROM AREAS
WHERE LOOSE ITEMS COULD BECOME FLYING DEBRIS.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE
ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 28, 2:41 PM CDT, 5 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:41 PM CDT, 5 hours 9 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
240 PM CDT WED MAY 28 1997

INTERESTING FCST PCKG COMING UP THANKS TO THAT EVER SO DIFFICULT
NWRLY FLOW PATTERN. 12Z ETA/NGM/AVN IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH UPPER
AND MOST ASPECTS OF SFC FEATURES THRU 48 HRS AND HAVE ACCEPTED THEIR
SOLUTIONS.

FOR TONIGHT...APCHG SHORTWAVE EMBEDDED IN THE NW FLOW PROGGED TO
SKIRT FCST AREA AND POINTS NWD. ENUF DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
FEATURE PLUS ADEQUATE MOISTURE...SFC TROF DRAPED ALONG ERN CO EXTNDG
INTO NERN NM AND LOW TO MID LVL VERTICAL...REASONABLY SUFFICIENT
LOW TO MID LVL VEERING WIND PROFILES AND INSTABILITY SUGGESTS
MAINTAINING DECENT POPS. WILL KEEP INTEGRITY OF HIGHEST W AND LOWEST
E BASED ON FLOW TRAJECTORY. WILL GO AHEAD AND RETAIN MENTION OF SVR
ALTHOUGH ONGOING CONVECTION IN PARTS OF TX/OK PNHDLS MAY STABILIZE
ATMOS SOMEWHAT. HOWEVER...NEW STORMS FIRING UPSTREAM AND FACTORS
CONSIDERED ABV LEADS ME TO ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION.

BELIEVE THREAT OF ORGANIZED SVR TSTMS WILL BE ON THU AS DEEPER
MOISTURE...BETTER DAYTIME HEATING...INSTABILITY...AND MORE FAVORABLE
WIND PROFILES PLUS ANOTHER SLIGHTLY STRONGER DISTURBANCE IN NW FLOW
PROGGED TO AFFECT THE REGION LATE IN THE DAY. COORDINATION CALL FROM
SPC REGARDING DAY 2 OUTLOOK REVEALED SIMILAR THOUGHTS...AND HAVE
ACCEPTED MODERATE RISK FOR MUCH OF THE FCST AREA. WILL MENTION SVR.

ON FRIDAY...STORMS MAY GET A LATER START AND BE MORE ISOLATED IN
NATURE AS MID LVL CAPPING INVERSION EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN SOMEWHAT.
WILL HAVE LOW POPS THAT DAY.

EXTENDED PROGS OFFER LITTLE CHANGE TO THE OVERALL SCENARIO UNTIL
ABOUT MONDAY. EITHER WAY...PROGGED PATTERN IS SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE TO
CONTI@NUE THREAT OF PRECIP. PRELIM NUMBERS FOLLOW.

DHT 50/78/51/80  5342
GUY 52/78/54/80  5342
AMA 54/79/57/81  5342

.AMA...
TX...NONE.
OK...NONE.

ANDRADE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore	64 min
May 28, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore, Potter	58 min
May 28, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham	62 min
May 28, 9:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	60 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.