Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 155, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 29, 1997, 5:44 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 66 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 29, 1997, 5:44 PM MDT (23:44 UTC)
- Expired
- May 29, 1997, 6:50 PM MDT
- In force
- 66 min
- Issued by
- NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lea County, NM
The radar
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:46 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 29, 6:48 PM MDT | Hail 1.75 | Eunice, NM | This storm developed along an E-W oriented stationary outflow boundary and moved to the southeast toward Eunice. Before arriving at Eunice the cell stopped and grew into a large multicell complex that covered much of southern Lea County, The northern part of |
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 29, 5:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 147 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 391 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -260 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1021 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 56 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 147 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 292345 RRA SVRMAF NMC025-300050- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 644 PM CDT (544 PM MDT) THU MAY 29 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 650 PM MDT (750 PM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ...SOUTHEASTERN LEA COUNTY AT 543 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR 19 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HOBBS OR 8 MILES WEST OF EUNICE MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... EUNICE...JONES CITY...AND OIL CENTER. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH... DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD. N MURDOCH/HUBER
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 29, 2:15 PM MDT, 3 hours 29 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 29, 2:15 PM MDT, 3 hours 29 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED POPS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 315 PM CDT (215 PM MDT) THU MAY 29 1997 SEE SWODY1 FOR GOOD SYNOPSIS OF SVR WX THREAT OVR FA. SVR TSRA ALREADY DVLPD IN DAVIS MTNS ATTM. EXPECT SVR TSRA TO DVLP INVOF INSTABILITY AXIS OVER SE NM IN THE NEXT COUPLE HRS. THIS SHOULD PROPAGATE SE INTO REST OF NRN FA (SEE SPSMAF). AGREE WITH LBB THAT LCL HVY RAIN PSBL GIVEN GOOD LOLVL MSTR. FRONT OVER KS TO PUSH S THROUGH FA FRI AS WRN USA RDG AMPLIFIES...BRINGING NLY FLOW ALOFT OVER FA. WILL KEEP POPS GOING INTO 2ND PERIOD AS FRONT SHOULD HAVE PLENTY OF MSTR AHEAD OF IT TO WORK WITH. MAF 63/91 4/3 CNM 61/92 4/3 MRF 55/85 2/1 P07 66/90 2/3 TJT
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 28, 6:28 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Lea | 47 min |
| May 28, 6:37 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 18 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Mexico, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.