Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 6, 1997, 6:04 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 31 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
- May 6, 1997, 6:04 PM MDT (00:04 UTC)
- Expired
- May 6, 1997, 6:35 PM MDT
- In force
- 31 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 00:03 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 6:10 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Hobbs, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 3:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 384 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -365 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1828 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 853 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 1087 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMAF 070006 RRA TORMAF NMC025-070035- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX 704 PM CDT (604 PM MDT) TUE MAY 6 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 635 PM MDT (735 PM CDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO ...EASTERN LEA COUNTY AT 603 PM MDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR IN THE VICINITY OF HOBBS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... HOBBS AND NADINE. 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...OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS. TJT/TAH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 6:13 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Lea | 62 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.