Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 166, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1997, 3:44 AM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 61 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 31, 1997, 3:44 AM MDT (09:44 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1997, 4:45 AM MDT
- In force
- 61 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 09:45 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
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 9.7 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
- 2664 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1695 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 1 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 199 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 8.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 310945 RRA SVRMAF NMC025-311045- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 444 AM CDT (344 AM MDT) SAT MAY 31 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 AM MDT (545 AM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ...SOUTH CENTRAL LEA COUNTY AT 342 AM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR 25 MILES WEST OF HOBBS OR 23 MILES WEST OF EUNICE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... LEA. THIS STORM WILL CROSS HIGHWAY 176 AT 4AM MDT. DIME SIZE HAIL IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK REFUGE FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN... AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. YOUNG/FRANCIS
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 31, 2:42 AM MDT, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:42 AM MDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 340 AM CDT SAT MAY 31 1997 CDFNT THRU MUCH OF CWA ATTM WITH ELEVATED CNVTN OCCURRING OVR CRANE... REAGAN AND GLASSCOCK COS. AMS BECMG INCRGLY STBL WITH ADAP LI/S NR ZERO NERN SECTIONS WITH MINUS 2-4 S. BELIEVE ACTVTY WILL CONT NEXT SVRL HRS ACRS SERN AREAS AS 50 KT H5 SPEED MAX MOVS SEWD WITH SOME SPRINKLES/LGT RAIN POSSIBLE ELSW. GENLY NELY LOW LVL FLOW PVLS WITH FAIRLY DECENT CAA BEHIND FNT. PROGS IN GOOD AGREEMENT TDA (THOUGH ETA SLGTLY MORE MOIST) AS LOW LVL FLOW BCMS ELY AND GRADUALLY LESSENS BY THIS EVE. WRN U.S. UPR RDG TO SHARPEN WITH NLY FLOW ALF BECMG PREVALENT. GUIDANCE TEMPS MAY NOT BE TOO BAD GIVEN THIS REGIME AS SC E OF MTNS SHOULD HOLD TIL AFTN WHEN BINOVC XPCD. PROGS SHOW LOW LVL MSTR AXIS CONTG ACR WRN SECTIONS (I.E E SLPS MTNS) THIS AFTN-TNGT WITH STEEP LAPSE RATES AND LI/S ABOUT MINUS 6. WITH UPSLP FLOW ENHANCING CNVGNC BELIEVE TSTMS WILL DVLP THIS AFTN NEAR MTNS...ESPECIALLY S CNTRL NM MTNS...WITH ACTVTY TO MOVE S/SEWD INTO WRN PERMIAN BASIN MAINLY TNGT. WILL REFLECT POPS ACCORDINGLY. MORE OF THE SAME PRECIP-WISE XPCD SUN AS SFC TROF EXTENDS FROM TX PNHDL-SERN NM PROVIDES FOCUS FOR CNVTN. BF/MEYT MAF 82/60 12 CNM 87/61 22 MRF 86/57 21 P07 86/67 31
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 31, 12:06 AM MDT, 3 hours 38 minutes before
NMZ027>029-310710- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 105 AM CDT (1205 AM MDT) SAT MAY 31 1997 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO IS CANCELLED... THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN NEW MEXICO HAS DIMINISHED AND THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR EASTERN NEW MEXICO INCLUDING LEA AND EDDY COUNTIES.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 4:52 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 63 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.