Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 8, 1997Gaines County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1997, 9:26 PM CDT for Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 49 min. 2 reports 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 8, 1997, 9:26 PM CDT (02:26 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Gaines County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:28 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 8, 9:40 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Seagraves, TX	Roof blown off a structure 1-2 miles east of State Highway 214 on State Highway 83. Strong outflow winds in a slightly bowing multicell complex.
May 8, 9:44 PM CDT	Hail 3	Seagraves, TX	Baseball size hail and larger smashed the windshield of a Police cruiser and shattered windows in several homes. Power was knocked out around town as well. Autos and roofs of houses were smashed by the large hail and accounted for much of the damage total.

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 8, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 97 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.

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 090227 RRA
TORMAF
TXC165-090315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
926 PM CDT THU MAY 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...GAINES COUNTY
 
AT 925 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER
RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 13 MILES NORTHEAST OF SEMINOLE OR 12
MILES NORTH OF FAIRVIEW MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH. BASEBALL HAIL HAS
BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... FAIRVIEW.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WOR~KBENCH 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 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, 7:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Borden, Dawson	49 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, 9:29 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

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.