Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 77, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 8, 1997Borden County, Dawson County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 8, 1997, 7:36 PM CDT for Borden County, Dawson County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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: May 8, 1997, 7:36 PM CDT (00:36 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1997, 8:25 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Borden County, TX, Dawson County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:35 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 8, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 2593 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1718 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

636 
WUUS1 KMAF 090036 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC033-115-090125-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
736 PM CDT THU MAY 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 825 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...WESTERN BORDEN COUNTY
   ...EASTERN DAWSON COUNTY
 
AT 734 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR 12 MILES EAST OF LAMESA OR 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF
MIDWAY MOVING SOUTH AT 10 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... MIDWAY...
SPARENBERG. THIS STORM SHOULD STAY EAST OF LAMESA.

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.

TAH/TJT

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 May 8, 2:52 PM CDT, 4 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 2:52 PM CDT, 4 hours 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED TEXT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
239 PM CDT THU MAY 8 1997

SMALL DEVELOPING VORT MAX TRACKING NE FROM S-CENTRAL NM ATTM PER
SATELLITE IMAGERY. AT THE SFC...MESOLOW NEAR FST HAS ALLOWED WEAK
EASTERLY FLOW OVER THE PERMIAN BASIN TO KEEP DWPTS AOA 60F. COLD
FRONT JUST N OF LBB AT 18Z WITH A LOW CLOUDS WORKING IN BEHIND IT
THROUGH THE TX PANHANDLE. SE NM ALREADY IN NLY FLOW...THANKS TO OLD
OUTFLOW BOUNDARY THAT EARLIER MOVED SOUTH ALONG EAST SLOPES. RESULT
IS A MOIST CONVERGENCE AXIS THAT EXTENDS FROM SE NM TO NRN PERMIAN
BASIN JUST S OF FRONT. WINDS ALOFT RATHER WEAK...ALTHOUGH SWOMCD/
SWODY1 NOTED SOME DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...AS WEAK WESTERLIES ARE
SITUATED OVER ELY SFC LYR.

SUSPECT BRIEF SVR THREAT THIS EVENING GIVEN HIGH AREA CAPES AND WEAK
MID-LEVEL WINDS...WHICH SHOULD TURN OVER TO LCLY HVY RAIN OVER
PERMIAN BASIN TONIGHT. W/V IMAGES SHOW CONTINUED AMPLIFICATION OF
NRN STREAM OVER PACIFIC NM...WHICH SHOULD ASSIST FRONTAL CONVECTION
IN DRIVING COLD FRONT SOUTH THROUGH PERMIAN BASIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.
RAIN FOCUS SHOULD SHIFT TO SRN ZONES AND ERN SLOPES OF MTNS AFTER
MIDNIGHT AS GOOD UPSLOPE COMBINES WITH DECENT POST-FRONTAL MOISTURE.
EXPECT LOW CLOUDS TO LINGER OVER PERMIAN BASIN UNTIL FRI AFTN...BUT
LOW LYR QVEC DVRG BEHIND FRONT SUGGESTS PCPN SHOULD DISSIPATE BY
AROUND SUNRISE FRI OVER NRN ZONES...WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES BY
AFTN. THANKS TO LBB FOR COORDINATION.

MAF  55/6F8  5/1
CNM  58/71  4/3
MRF  50/70  2/3
P07  63/78  2/4

TJT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 8, 6:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

NMZ027>029-TXZ045>048-050>052-061>063-090235-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
630 PM CDT (530 PM MDT) THU MAY 8 1997

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES
IN TEXAS UNTIL 10 PM CDT:

GAINES...DAWSON...BORDEN...SCURRY...ANDREWS...MARTIN...HOWARD...
ECTOR...MIDLAND...AND GLASSCOCK.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF EASTERN NEW
MEXICO...INCLUDING EDDY AND LEA COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...
UNTIL 8 PM MDT (9 PM CDT).

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE
IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS SHOULD WATCH FOR THREATENING
WEATHER AND LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL RADIO...OR
TELEVISION FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

TJT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Gaines	50 min
May 8, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	45 min
May 8, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	47 min
May 8, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	49 min
May 8, 8:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Andrews, Gaines	32 min
May 8, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Andrews, Gaines	35 min
May 8, 9:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Gaines	49 min
May 8, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Andrews	46 min
May 8, 10:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Martin	46 min
May 9, 12:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	63 min
May 9, 12:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock	46 min
May 9, 1:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Midland	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.