Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 135, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 28, 1997Gaines County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 28, 1997, 4:50 PM CDT for Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 65 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 28, 1997, 4:50 PM CDT (21:50 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1997, 5:55 PM CDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Gaines County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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 28, 5:10 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Seminole, TX	A small single cell storm that briefly produced golfball size hail.

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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 97 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: 927 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 734 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

638 
WUUS1 KMAF 282151 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC165-282255-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
450 PM CDT WED MAY 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 555 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...WESTERN GAINES COUNTY
 
AT 449 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 27 MILES WEST OF SEMINOLE OR 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
HIGGINBOTHAM MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS.

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.

TAH/MDW

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 28, 2:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 13 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
236 PM CDT WED MAY 28 1997

KMAF 88D SHOWS WDLY SCT TSRA FIRING OVER DAVIS MTNS ATTM. NEARLY BKN
CU FIELD OVER NRN PERMIAN BASIN INDICATES CAP LONG GONE. WITH SUCH
WIDESPREAD OVERTURNING AND A LACK OF ANY CLEAR SFC BNDY...EXPECT
WEAK...WDLY SCT TSRA (AT BEST) OVER PERMIAN BASIN TNGT. BETTER CHC
OF ORGANIZED CONVECTION OMTNS. THIS TSRA SHOULD PROPAGATE SE WITH NW
FLOW ALOFT. GOOD DIRECTIONAL SHEAR WITH E-SE SFC FLOW...AND CAPES
APPROACHING 2000 J/KG ATTM SUGGEST SVR WX PSBL WITH TSRA THAT PUSH
OFF MTNS INTO HIER DWPTS THIS EVE (SEE SWODY1). BIG QUESTION IS HOW
FAR STORMS WILL PROPAGATE FROM MTNS. APPEARS SUSTAINED CONVECTION
MORE LIKELY N OF FA AHEAD OF SPEED MAX DIVING SE OVER SRN CO/NRN NM.
CLOSER TO HOME...15Z RUC INDICATES THETA-E AXIS HUGGING DAVIS/GDP
MOUNTAINS THIS EVE...WHICH SUGGESTS STORMS WOULD NOT LIKELY LAST
LONG AFTER PUSHING OFF MTNS THIS FAR S. WILL KEEP CHC POPS INVOF
MTNS AND SLGT CHC ELSEWHERE. WENT CLOSE TO WARMER FWC LOWS AS MOIST
UPSLOPE FLOW WILL KEEP DWPTS UP OVERNIGHT. COULD SEE SOME PATCHY
MRNG LOW CLDS ERN ZONES. COORDINATED WITH LBB.

MAF  62/88  2/1
CNM  62/91  3/1
MRF  57/85  3/1
P07  064/92  -/1

TJT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 28, 11:11 AM CDT, 5 hours 39 minutes before

NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-290500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1110 AM CDT (1010 AM MDT) WED MAY 28 1997

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   CULBERSON  GLASSCOCK   MARTIN    REAGAN   UPTON
BORDEN    DAWSON     HOWARD      MIDLAND   REEVES   WARD
BREWSTER  ECTOR      JEFF DAVIS  PECOS     SCURRY   WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES     LOVING      PRESIDIO  TERRELL

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF THE
ABOVE COUNTIES TODAY...

SYNOPSIS: SOUTHEAST WINDS HAVE RETURNED GULF MOISTURE TO WESTERN
TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO OVERNIGHT. LOW LEVEL INSTABILITY
ALONG WITH AMPLE SURFACE HEATING THIS AFTERNOON WILL HELP TO PRODUCE
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE REGION. INITIAL DEVELOPMENT OF
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED OVER THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN
AND THE HIGH PLAINS OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO THIS
AFTERNOON. NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT SHOULD PUSH GENERAL STORM MOVEMENT TO
THE SOUTHEAST...HOWEVER OUTFLOW BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN STORMS
MAY DIRECT MOVEMENT ELSEWHERE ON SOME STORMS. WIND PROFILES AT
LOWER LEVELS SUGGEST SUPERCELL FORMATION MAY BE POSSIBLE WITH SOME
STORMS.

THE MAIN THREAT WITH ANY STORMS THAT DO BECOME SEVERE WILL BE LARGE
HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES...AND WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPM ALONG WITH HEAVY
RAINS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON.

PENDERGRAST/TURNAGE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Jeff Davis	45 min
May 28, 3:18 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Brewster, Jeff Davis	62 min
May 28, 3:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster, Jeff Davis	62 min
May 28, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Andrews	64 min
May 28, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Gaines	45 min
May 28, 6:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Andrews	47 min
May 28, 6:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ector	47 min
May 28, 6:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Andrews	48 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.