Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 322, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 1997, 5:40 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 50 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
- Jul 31, 1997, 5:40 PM MDT (23:40 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 31, 1997, 6:30 PM MDT
- In force
- 50 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 23:43 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 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
- 253 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -75 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1299 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 5 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -45 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 10 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 312341 RRA SVRMAF NMC025-010030- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 640 PM CDT (540 PM MDT) THU JUL 31 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM MDT (730 PM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ...NORTHERN LEA COUNTY AT 538 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR 22 MILES WEST OF TATUM OR 3 MILES SOUTH OF CAPROCK MOVING NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... CAPROCK. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH... DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGTHTNING...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. 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 Jul 31, 1:27 PM MDT, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 1:27 PM MDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 226 PM CDT THU JUL 31 1997 LATEST SATELLITE LOOP INDICATES MCS DISSIPATING IN NE NEW MEXICO. OUTFLOW FROM THE ACTIVITY IS PUSHING ACROSS THE TEXAS HIGH PLAINS ATTM. THIS BOUNDARY WILL PROVIDE A LOW-LEVEL FOCUS FOR POPS OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS IT INTERACTS WITH THE SURFACE EASTERLY FLOW. MOSTLY EASTERLY WINDS CONTINUE AT THE SURFACE THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE FA WITH LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS DOMINATING THE MOUNTAIN AREAS. LATEST KMAF WSR-88D DATA SHOWS TSRA ACTIVITY DEVELOPING IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO IN RESPONSE TO MCS OUTFLOW AND IN THE MOUNTAIN AREAS TO THE SOUTHWEST. MODELS CONTINUE UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE THROUGH 48 HOURS. AT THE LOWER LEVELS...MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW INTO THE FA AS EASTERLY FLOW ALSO CONTINUES. SURFACE DEWPOINTS REMAIN IN THE 60S ACROSS MOST OF THE FA THROUGH 48 HOURS AS THETA-E RIDGE PERSISTS. WITH EASTERLY FLOW CONTINUING ACROSS MOST OF FA THROUGH 48 HOURS...UPSLOPE FLOW WILL ENHANCE POPS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE WESTERN FA. BELIEVE ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED POPS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE FA THROUGH ALL FOUR PERIODS. HIGHER POPS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHERN FA AS THE MCS OUTFLOW MOVES ACROSS THIS AREA. ALTHOUGH...WITH NO SURFACE BOUNDARY TO ACT AS A FOCUS...POPS EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS WILL BE ISOLATED FOR THE SECOND PERIOD AND BEYOND. BELIEVE GUIDANCE NUMBERS LOW. WITH LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE PERSISTING...BELIEVE NUMBERS CLOSER TO PERSISTENCE BEST FOR FIRST TWO PERIODS. MAF 71/96 20/10 CNM 72/99 20/10 MRF 61/86 10/10 P07 74/95 10/10 HUBER/BRITE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 5:51 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | MAF | Lea | 4 hr |
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.