Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 356, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 7, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 7, 1997, 5:00 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 50 min. 2 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: Oct 7, 1997, 5:00 PM MDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 7, 1997, 5:50 PM MDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 7, 5:25 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Lovington, NM	Downbursting winds from this fast-moving storm uprooted a 10x15 foot metal barn from its concrete foundation. At the adjacent residence windows were broken by the wind and debris.
Oct 7, 5:40 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Lovington, NM	The storm that produced the damage near Lovington also knocked down utility poles along State Highway 18 between Lovington and Hobbs.

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 12:00Z, 11.0 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.

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: 118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -129 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 820 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 106 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 072301 RRA
SVRMAF
NMC025-072350-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
600 PM CDT (500 PM MDT) TUE OCT 7 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 550 PM MDT (650 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...EAST CENTRAL LEA COUNTY
 
AT 458 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 16 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HOBBS OR 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
MONUMENT MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... MONUMENT... HOBBS
AND HUMBLE CITY.

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 ROA<D.


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 Oct 7, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 7, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
255 PM CDT TUE OCT 7 1997

LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY AND KMAF WSR-88D DATA INDICATING
THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS. BELIEVE UPSLOPE
AND AFTERNOON HEATING THE DRIVING FORCES HERE. ELSEWHERE...SKIES ARE
BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. LATEST LDS DATA SHOWS INTENSITY OF SYSTEM
MOVING INTO EASTERN AZ ATTM.

MODELS ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT. EXPECT MOSTLY CLOUDY CONDITIONS
TO RETURN LATER TONIGHT AS SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW CONTINUES. BEST
CHANCES FOR POPS WILL BE AFTER MIDNIGHT AS MAJOR SHORT-WAVE TROF
MOVES INTO WESTERN FA. BEST FORCING WILL BE NORTH OF FA.
HOWEVER...GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THIS SYSTEM...EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS
TO DEVELOP ALONG THE SURFACE CONVERGENCE ZONE MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT.
SKIES WILL CLEAR TOMORROW AFTERNOON FOR MOST OF WESTERN ZONES.
HOWEVER...EASTERN EDGE OF FA COULD SEE SOME TRW ACTIVITY CONTINUING
INTO TOMORROW AFTERNOON. IN SHORT...TIMING NOT THE BEST FOR SEVERE
WX...BUT SCATTERED TRWS ARE LIKELY ACROSS MOST OF CENTRAL FA AFTER
MIDNIGHT.

AS FOR TEMPERATURES...FWC GUIDANCE LOOKS GOOD FOR FIRST TWO PERIODS.

THANKS TO KLBB FOR COORDINATION!

MAF 63/79 40/10
CNM 60/75 30/--
MRF 53/75 20/10
P07 65/85 40/20

HUBER/GRIFFIN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 6, 7:11 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Eddy	3 hr
Oct 6, 8:17 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Eddy	3 hr
Oct 7, 5:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	46 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Mexico, 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.