Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 311, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 5, 1997, 8:02 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 48 min. 3 reports 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
- Jul 5, 1997, 8:02 PM MDT (02:02 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 5, 1997, 8:50 PM MDT
- In force
- 48 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 02:06 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 5, 8:20 PM MDT | Hail 1 | Tatum, NM | |
| Jul 5, 8:25 PM MDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Tatum, NM | Outflow winds from the forward flank of an HP supercell uprooted trees, blew over or removed roofs from sheds, and downed power poles. |
| Jul 5, 8:50 PM MDT | Hail 1.75 | Mc Donald, NM | Golfball hail destroyed corn on a dairy farm. |
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 00:00Z, 2.0 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
- 777 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2110 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 48 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 28 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 235 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.9
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
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 Jul 5, 7:22 PM MDT, 40 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 5, 7:22 PM MDT, 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 821 PM CDT SAT JUL 5 1997 CURRENT FORECASTS LOOK ON TRACK... NO SUGGESTED CHANGES. LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THIS WAY AT ABOUT 30 MPH AND AFTER COORDINATING WITH KLBB WE HAVE INCREASED POPS OVER MUCH OF THE FA EAST OF THE PECOS RIVER. WINDS GUSTED TO 41 KNOTS AS OUTFLOW MOVED THROUGH CLOVIS SO SUSPECT WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 30 AND 40 KNOTS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS LINE. BELIEVE LINE SHOULD BE THROUGH MUCH OF FA BY MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY THEREAFTER. THEREFORE... EXPECT DECREASING CLOUDS TO BEGIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. EARLE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 5, 8:37 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Gaines | 48 min |
| Jul 5, 9:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Andrews | 63 min |
| Jul 5, 9:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Dawson | 63 min |
| Jul 5, 8:15 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Lea | 50 min |
| Jul 5, 9:04 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Lea | 31 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.