Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 125, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 23, 1997Terrell County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 1997, 5:51 PM CDT for Terrell County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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 23, 1997, 5:51 PM CDT (22:51 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1997, 6:40 PM CDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Terrell County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 191 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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 nearest sounding before it

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 153 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 17 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-188 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1089 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

809 
WUUS1 KMAF 232252 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC443-232340-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
551 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 640 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TEXAS

   ...WESTERN TERRELL COUNTY
 
AT 549 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 4 MILES NORTH OF SANDERSON MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... SANDERSON.

WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.



YOUNG/EARLE

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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 23, 2:18 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 2:18 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
218 PM CDT (118 PM MDT) FRI MAY 23 1997

SYNOPSIS: A TROUGH WAS PASSING OVR THE W/TX REGION THIS AFTERNOON
AND SHUD AMOUNT TO NOTHING MORE THAN A WIND SHIFT AT LWR LVLS.
THIS WIND SHIFT WL HELP TO GRADUALLY MOVE DRIER AMS E-WRD OVR THE
RGN BY TMRW. ATTM OROGRAPHIC T-STORMS WERE BEGINNING TO DEVELOP IN
THE AREA OF DEEP MOISTURE AND MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND ALONG OLDER
OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES THAT EXIST OVR THE REGION. THE LIMITING FACTORS
TO SEVERE DEVELOPMENT WL BE LACK OF STG WNDS/SHEAR OR QG FORCING AT
LOW/MID LVLS. WSM/JTN PROFILERS REFLECT THIS TREND WUD EXPECT SLOW
MOVING OUTFLOW BOUNDARY DRIVEN STORMS TO PREVAIL WITH HVY RAINFALL
AND SMALL HAIL MAIN THREAT TIL AROUND 03Z. A MORE PRONOUNCED TREND
OF STEEPENING LAPSE RATES AND DESTABILIZATION WERE NOTED FURTHER
NORTH OVER THE TX/PANHANDLE.

50H TROUGH PROGGED OVER TX TO KICK E-WRD AND BE REPLACED WITH
GENERAL W/SW FLOW FOR THE WEEKEND CONSEQUENTLY TEMPS WARM TO
SUMMERTIME LVLS UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES.

SHORT TERM: AREA OF SUBSIDENCE NOTED OVR NM BEHIND TROUGH AND WUD
EXPECT CLEARING TONIGHT OVR W/TX HWVR HIGH CLOUDS SHUD RETURN SAT AS
MORE PAC MOISTURE MOVG ONSHORE WL CONTRIBUTE SOME HI LVL MOISTURE WL
AND MAY BE ENOUGH TO KEEP TEMPS A CAT OR SO BELOW EXPECTED HIGHS.
SFC WINDS SHUD REMAIN LIGHT.

LONG TERM: 50H LOW PRESSURE TROUGH SET TO BECOME ESTABLISHED OVR THE
GREAT BASIN KEEPING REGION IN GENL SW FLOW AND WARM TEMPS TIL EARLY
NEXT WEEK.

GUIDANCE TEMPS DISPARITY CONTINUES AVN SEEMS TOO COOL CONSIDERING
TRENDS. WL LEAN CLOSER TO NGM CONSIDERING EXPECTED DRYING.

CNM 60/93 11
MAF 59/93 21
MRF 52/84 31
P07 61/91 32

PENDERGRAST/HUBER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 7:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPresidio49 min
May 23, 1:24 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningMAFTerrell3 hr
May 23, 6:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFScurry49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997Every 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.