Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 11, 1997Midland County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 11, 1997, 12:47 AM CDT for Midland 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: Apr 11, 1997, 12:47 AM CDT (05:47 UTC)
Expired: Apr 11, 1997, 1:35 AM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Midland County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:46 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
Apr 11, 12:47 AM CDT	Hail 0.75	Greenwood, 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
Apr 10, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 18 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: 1544 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -122 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1434 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 9.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 110547 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC329-110635-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1247 AM CDT FRI APR 11 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 135 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...EASTERN MIDLAND COUNTY
 
AT 1245 AM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF STANTON OR 1 MILE NORTH OF
GREENWOOD MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO NEAR GREENWOOD IN THE NEXT FEW
MINUTES.

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING 1 INCH OR LARGER HAIL.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THEV WARNED AREA.
REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE
ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

$$

PENDERGRAST/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 Apr 10, 2:47 PM CDT, 10 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 10, 2:47 PM CDT, 10 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
246 PM CDT THU APR 10 1997

ATMOSPHERE CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE ACROSS THE CWA WITH ADAP
INDICATING LI'S TO MINUS 6 WITH VERY LITTLE CAP IN A PLACE. FORECAST
SOUNDINGS ACROSS WEST TEXAS SUGGEST CAPES TO 2000-2500 J/KG PER
COORD WITH SPC. MEANWHILE DRYLINE IS CLOSE TO MTNS ATTM...HOWEVER
WINDS AT GDP AND DWPTS SUGGEST DRYLINE IS BEGINNING TO MOVE E AND
STILL EXPECT IT MOVE CLOSE TO MIDLAND BY EARLY EVENING. WARMEST
TEMPS ATTM ARE IN WINKLER COUNTY SUPPORTING VERTICALLY ENHANCED CU
FIELD AND BELIEVE IT IS JUST A SHORT MATTER OF TIME BEFORE TSTMS
BEGIN TO RAPIDLY DEVELOP IN THIS AREA. LOW CLOUDS STILL IN PLACE
ACROSS ERN HALF OF THE CWA AND CONVECTION IS LESS LIKELY ATTM AND
SPC HAS RECENTLY ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH. CONVECTIVE THREAT WILL BE
INCREASING FURTHER E HOWEVER AS CLOUDS ERODE ON WRN EDGE WITH
DRYLINE AND UPPER TROF AXIS APPROACHING. SCATTERED MENTION OF SEVERE
STILL WARRANTED TIL AROUND MIDNIGHT AS WINDS INCREASE ALOFT WITH
MID-LEVEL DRYING WORKING INTO THE RGN AND AS ETA IS STILL
FORECASTING CAPES TO 1500 J/KG BY 06Z. THEREAFTER MID-LEVEL TROF
AXIS BEGINS TO SWING THRU SHIFTING WINDS TO THE W. THIS WILL ALLOW
FOR COLD FRONT CURRENTLY IN THE TX PANHANDLE TO DROP S INTO THE PB
BY TMRW AFTERNOON. ETA IS INDICATING MUCH COOLER TEMPS WITH PASSAGE
OF THE MID-LEVEL TROF AND ASSOCD PAC COLD FRONT. TEMPS DIFFICULT DO
TO TIMING OF FROPA AND WILL GO SLIGHTLY BELOW FWC AND ABOVE ETA
AS SIGNIFICANT DOWNSLOPE WARMING OCCURS IN ADVANCE OF FRONT IN TX
PANHANDLE. COORD WITH LBB AND SPC.

MAF 48/63 40/10
CNM 43/70 10/0
MRF 39/66 10/0
P07 53/80 40/10

MURDOCH/BRITE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 10, 10:09 PM CDT, 2 hours 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1010 PM CDT THU APR 10 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

450 PM     SEMINOLE                  TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   GAINES

535 PM     7 ENE SEMINOLE            TX   TORNADO
04/10/97   GAINES                         POWERLINES DOWNED...SHED
                                          DESTROYED...ABOUT 3 MILES N
                                          OF FAIRVIEW ALONG F.M. 1429
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

620 PM     WELCH                     TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   DAWSON

955 PM     GREENWOOD                 TX   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   MIDLAND

Local storm report, Apr 10, 10:10 PM CDT, 2 hours 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1010 PM CDT THU APR 10 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

450 PM     SEMINOLE                  TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   GAINES

535 PM     7 ENE SEMINOLE            TX   TORNADO
04/10/97   GAINES                         POWERLINES DOWNED...SHED
                                          DESTROYED...ABOUT 3 MILES N
                                          OF FAIRVIEW ALONG F.M. 1429
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

620 PM     WELCH                     TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   DAWSON

955 PM     GREENWOOD                 TX   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/10/97   MIDLAND

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 10, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	32 min
Apr 10, 10:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	46 min
Apr 10, 11:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	43 min
Apr 10, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Dawson	49 min
Apr 10, 11:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	48 min
Apr 11, 12:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	48 min
Apr 11, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Martin	62 min
Apr 11, 12:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane	51 min
Apr 11, 12:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	64 min
Apr 11, 1:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Howard	48 min
Apr 11, 1:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	48 min
Apr 11, 1:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	48 min
Apr 11, 2:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock	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.