Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 330, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

August 12, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 12, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 59 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 12, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT (23:21 UTC)
Expired
Aug 12, 1997, 6:20 PM MDT
In force
59 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 23:24 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, 11.4 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-08-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 224 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 1997-08-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 72 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
224 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-285 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1680 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
129 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 122322 RRA
SVRMAF
NMC025-130020-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
621 PM CDT (521 PM MDT) TUE AUG 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 620 PM MDT (720 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...LEA COUNTY
 
AT 517 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HOBBS OR 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
MONUMENT MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

THE STORM IS EXPECTED TO PASS WEST OF HOBBS AND NEAR MONUMENT.


WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.


GM/JF

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 12, 12:40 PM MDT, 4 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 12:40 PM MDT, 4 hours 41 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
139 PM CDT TUE AUG 12 1997

18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS STALLED COLD FRONT OVER SOUTH PLAINS WITH
VARIABLE WINDS OVER MUCH OF THE CWA.  DEWPOINTS REMAIN IN THE 60S
EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS.  WV IMAGERY SHOWING SHEAR AXIS CONTINUING
OVER OUR NORTHERN PORTIONS WITH VISIBLE SHOWING ABUNDANT MID LEVEL
CLOUDS AS A RESULT OF ENHANCED LIFT.  KMAF 88D REFLECTIVITY SHOWING
WIDELY SCATTERED STORMS OVER THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS BUT NOT NEAR THE
COVERAGE OF YESTERDAY.

MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT NEXT 36 TO 48 HOURS WITH UPPER HIGH
CONTINUING OVER THE FA.  LITTLE IF ANY UPWARD MOTION OVER THE FA
AS DYNAMICS REMAIN WELL NORTH.  WITH THIS IN MIND WILL KEEP WIDELY
SCATTERED POPS OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND VICINITY.  HOWEVER... MAY SEE
AN ISOLATED STORM THIS EVENING IN VICINITY OF AFOREMENTIONED SHEAR
AXIS AND STALLED FRONT BUT MID CLOUDS HAVE CUT OUT SOME NEEDED
INSOLATION AND CAP REMAINS FAIRLY STRONG ATTM.  ELSEWHERE... CAP
SHOULD HOLD STRONG.  ALSO... AFOREMENTIONED STATIONARY FRONT MAY
BRUSH OUR NORTHERN PORTIONS BEFORE WASHING OUT TONIGHT/TOMORROW BUT
SHOULD MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE.

WILL STICK CLOSE TO PERSISTENCE AND WARMER MOS GUIDANCE THIS GO
AROUND AS AVN/ETA SEEM A LITTLE TOO COOL.

MAF  71/95 1-
CNM  70/97 21
MRF  61/87 21
P07  74/93 00

EARLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 12, 3:43 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea3 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.