Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 323, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 4, 1997Eddy County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 1997, 4:16 PM MDT for Eddy County, New Mexico. It was in force for 34 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
Aug 4, 1997, 4:16 PM MDT (22:16 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 1997, 4:50 PM MDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Eddy County, NM

The radar

The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 183 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:18 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 206 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 9 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 45 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-214 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1765 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 042217 RRA
SVRMAF
NMC015-042250-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
516 PM CDT (416 PM MDT) MON AUG 4 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 450 PM MDT (550 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...CENTRAL EDDY COUNTY
 
AT 414 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR IN THE VICINITY OF CARLSBAD MOVING SOUTH AT 10 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... OTIS.

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.


BOYD/FRAZAR

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 Aug 4, 1:03 PM MDT, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 1:03 PM MDT, 3 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
138 PM CDT MON AUG 4 1997

KMAF 88D INDICATES SHRA TO N HAVE DISSIPATED WITH S-SE CWA BECOMING
THE FOCUS AREA AS SHRA HAVE DEVELOPED IN AREA OF SLIGHTLY HIER
SURFACE MSTR...WILL LIKELY SEE CONVECTION RTRN TO THE HIER TERRAIN
AS WELL. HARD TO FIND FEATURES ON SURFACE ANALYSIS AS BROAD SURFACE
RIDGING REMAINS IN PLACE AND SEE NO REASON FOR AFTERNOON CONVECTION
TO PERSIST MUCH PAST SUNSET. MODEL DATA SUGGEST WEAK WAVE JUST TO THE N
WILL MOVE W THRU THE NIGHT AS IT MOVES INTO ELY FLOW AROUND UPPER
HIGH IN SRN CO. DEPENDING ON WHERE WAVE IS TMW IT MAY PROVIDE
ADDITIONAL LIFT ACROSS THE HIER TERRAIN OF THE FAR WRN CWA. ATTM NOT
TOO EXCITED ABOUT POPS ACROSS THE PB TMW AS NO REAL FOCUS FOR
AFTERNOON HEATING AND WILL OPT TO CONTINUE DRY FCST. BY WEDNESDAY
MORNING LOW-LEVEL FLOW TO BECOME MORE SLY AS TROF DEVELOPS...WHICH
MAY BE INDICATOR OF SLIGHTLY BETTER POPS TO COME. AVN CONTINUES( TO
BE TOO COOL AND WILL STAY CLOSE TO FWC AND PERSISTENCE.

MAF 70/93 20/-
CNM 71/94 20/10
MRF 60/84 20/10
P07 74/92 20/10

MURDOCH/BRITE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 4, 5:21 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFEddy3 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.