Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 44, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 24, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 24, 1997, 1:59 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 61 min. 1 report 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
Apr 24, 1997, 1:59 PM MDT (19:59 UTC)
Expired
Apr 24, 1997, 3:00 PM MDT
In force
61 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 19:59 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 24, 2:45 PM MDTHail 1.75Tatum, NM

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, 8.0 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-04-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-04-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 629 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
958 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
629 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
798 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 241959 RRA
SVRMAF
NMC025-242100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
259 PM CDT (159 PM MDT) THU APR 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM MDT (400 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...NORTHERN LEA COUNTY
 
AT 157 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 21 MILES WEST OF TATUM OR 6 MILES SOUTH OF CAPROCK
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... CAPROCK AND
CROSSROADS.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK REFUGE FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG
BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN... AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY
FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

FAGEN/FRANCIS

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 Apr 24, 10:05 AM MDT, 3 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 24, 10:05 AM MDT, 3 hours 54 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1104 AM CDT THU APR 24 1997

SELY SFC FLOW STRENGTHENING ACROSS W TX AS DRYLINE TAKES SHAPE TO
THE W...WHILE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATES UPPER LOW OVER NRN AZ.
PARAMETERS HAVE COME TOGETHER NICELY (WITH POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF LOW
LEVEL MSTR) FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. SURFACE HEATING EXPECTED TO BE A BIG PLAYER IN INITIATION
OF TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON AND WITH VISIBLE IMAGERY FROM GARP
INDICATING ONLY A FEW CLOUDS ACROSS THE PB THE LIKELYHOOD OF SCT
DRYLINE TSTMS LOOKS GOOD. STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL LIKELY BECOME
SEVERE QUICKLY WITH CAPES TO 1500 J/KG...LI'S TO MINUS 6...AND
IMPRESSIVE SHEAR PROFILES (SEE MAF/ZAO HODOGRAPHS). HAVE COORD WITH
LBB AND ADDED MENTION OF SEVERE FURTHER S INTO PECOS AND TERRELL
COUNTIES AND INCREASED SE WINDS.

MURDOCH/FRANCIS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 24, 10:45 AM MDT, 3 hours 14 minutes before
NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-057>063-067>070-074-075-079>082-250500-

THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1144 AM CDT (1044 AM MDT) THU APR 24 1997

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST TEXAS:

ANDREWS   CULBERSON  GLASSCOCK   MARTIN    REAGAN   UPTON
BORDEN    DAWSON     HOWARD      MIDLAND   REEVES   WARD
BREWSTER  ECTOR      JEFF DAVIS  PECOS     SCURRY   WINKLER
CRANE     GAINES     LOVING      PRESIDIO  TERRELL

AND IN SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO:

EDDY      LEA

SYNOPSIS:
THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE OUTLOOK
AREA EAST OF A LINE FROM CAPROCK NEW MEXICO...TO WINK TEXAS...TO JUST
WEST OF SANDERSON. SCATTERED DRYLINE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
WITH THE PRESENCE OF STRONG SURFACE HEATING AND SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL
SOUTHEAST WINDS CONVERGING ALONG THE DRYLINE PROVIDING LIFT. A
VEERING LOW LEVEL WIND PROFILE AND A PASSING MID LEVEL SPEED MAX
THIS EVENING WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELLS AND POSSIBLE
TORNADOES. RESIDENTS IN THE OUTLOOK AREA SHOULD KEEP A CLOSE WATCH
ON THE WEATHER AND PREPARE THE POSSIBILITY OF DANGEROUS WEATHER IN
THE OUTLOOK AREA.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED.

MURDOCH/FRANCIS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 23, 10:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea47 min
Apr 24, 2:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea33 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.