Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Lubbock, TX

May 8, 1997Yoakum County, Texas

NWS Lubbock, TX issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1997, 8:22 PM CDT for Yoakum County, Texas. It was in force for 48 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 8, 1997, 8:22 PM CDT (01:22 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1997, 9:10 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Lubbock, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Yoakum County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:22 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 8, 8:50 PM CDT	Hail 1	Denver City, 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 8, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 2593 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1718 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLBB 090123 RRA
TORLBB
TXC501-090210-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
822 PM CDT THU MAY 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LUBBOCK TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 910 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...YOAKUM COUNTY
 
AT 820 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY LUBBOCK
DOPPLER RADAR 16 MILES NORTHWEST OF PLAINS OR 7 MILES NORTH OF
BRONCO MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO APPROACH THE COMMUNITY OF BRONCO.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Yoakum	45 min
May 8, 7:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Cochran	49 min
May 8, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Cochran	44 min
May 8, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Terry	50 min
May 8, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Lubbock	32 min
May 8, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Garza, Lynn	49 min
May 8, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Kent	48 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.