Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 24, 1997Dawson County, Gaines County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 24, 1997, 3:13 PM CDT for Dawson County, Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 32 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: Apr 24, 1997, 3:13 PM CDT (20:13 UTC)
Expired: Apr 24, 1997, 3:45 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Dawson County, TX, Gaines County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:17 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
Apr 24, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 88 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: 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 242013 RRA
TORMAF
TXC115-165-242045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
313 PM CDT THU APR 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 345 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...NORTHWESTERN DAWSON COUNTY
   ...NORTHEASTERN GAINES COUNTY
 
AT 311 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER
RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAMESA OR 6 MILES
WEST OF WELCH MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... WELCH... PRIDE
AND GRANDVIEW.  WEATHER SPOTTERS ALONG HIGHWAYS 403 AND 83 REPORTED
A POSSIBLE TORNADO.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO
BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A
CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS..R.OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.

$$

FAGEN/FRANCIS
 

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 23, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reeves	44 min
Apr 23, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	24 min
Apr 24, 3:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector, Ward	49 min
Apr 24, 4:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	50 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.