Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 7, 1997Moore County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1997, 6:42 PM CDT for Moore County, Texas. It was in force for 33 min. 2 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 7, 1997, 6:42 PM CDT (23:42 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 33 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 23:42 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 7, 6:50 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Four Way, TX
May 7, 6:57 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Four Way, 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 nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 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: 250 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -365 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1218 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 240 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

061 
WFUS1 KAMA 072342 RRA
TORAMA
TXC341-080015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
642 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM CDT
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
 
   ...MOORE COUNTY
 
AT 640 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
TORNADO JUST NORTHEAST OF DUMAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. PEOPLE IN AND
AROUND DUMAS SHOULD TAKE SHELTER.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...DO NOT WATCH FOR THE TORNADO.  SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY IN NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDINGS.  AS A LAST RESORT...
FIND A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR
HANDS.

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, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Moore	45 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, 6:58 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.