Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 6, 1997Moore County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 6, 1997, 8:45 PM CDT for Moore County, Texas. It was in force for 45 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: May 6, 1997, 8:45 PM CDT (01:45 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 1997, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Moore County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:46 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 6, 9:07 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Sunray, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 6, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr
May 6, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 70 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: 1294 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1869 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 165 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 365 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 14.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAMA 070146 RRA
TORAMA
TXC341-070230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
845 PM CDT TUE MAY 6 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 PM CDT
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
 
   ...NORTHERN MOORE COUNTY
 
AT 844 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST NORTH OF CACTUS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH. CACTUS
AND SUNRAY RESIDENTS SHOULD TAKE SHELTER NOW.
 
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES.
 
ABANDON VEHICLES AND MOBILE HOMES...SEEK SHELTER IN A REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...A DITCH OR LOW SPOT OFFERS BETTER
PROTECTION THAN YOUR CAR OR MOBILE HOME.  ABANDON MOBILE HOMES EVEN
IF TIED DOWN.  DO NOT USE A CAR TO TRY AND OUT RUN A TORNADO.  CARS
ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND AND CAN BECOME MISSILES IN TORNADIC WINDS.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	67 min
May 6, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	67 min
May 6, 8:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Hansford	47 min
May 6, 8:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Sherman	50 min
May 6, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Hutchinson, Moore	60 min
May 6, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray	29 min
May 6, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Gray, Roberts	60 min
May 6, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	62 min
May 7, 4:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	63 min
May 7, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley	32 min
May 7, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore	58 min
May 7, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Moore	33 min
May 7, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson	32 min

Nearby

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