Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 7, 1997Ector County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1997, 7:07 PM CDT for Ector County, Texas. It was in force for 33 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 7, 1997, 7:07 PM CDT (00:07 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1997, 7:40 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Ector County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:06 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 7, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 34 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: 1891 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -148 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2000 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

217 
WFUS1 KMAF 080008 RRA
TORMAF
TXC135-080040-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
707 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 740 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...NORTHWESTERN ECTOR COUNTY
 
AT 705 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND
DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 18 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ANDREWS.

THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS.

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.

TAH/TJT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Andrews	48 min
May 7, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster, Pecos	34 min
May 7, 8:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Brewster	30 min
May 7, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	33 min
May 8, 5:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	50 min
May 8, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Gaines	49 min
May 8, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector, Winkler	47 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.