Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 10, 1997, 5:14 PM CDT for Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 36 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
- Apr 10, 1997, 5:14 PM CDT (22:14 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 10, 1997, 5:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 36 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 22:13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 10, 5:21 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Seminole, TX | The first tornado of this supercell formed just south of U.S. Highway 180 and moved to the ENE for much of its life, then veered sharply to the north as it roped-out crossing the highway. Two telephone poles were downed along the highway--one holding a transf |
| Apr 10, 5:33 PM CDT | Tornado F2 | Seminole, TX | This second tornado was spawned about two miles east of were tornado #1 dissipated. This tornado tracked to the northeast and overturned two center-pivot irrigation systems. The second system looked as if a couple of sections had become airborne from the res |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 10, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 265 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -245 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 579 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 157 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 178 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 7:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Jeff Davis | 34 min |
| Apr 9, 8:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Reeves | 46 min |
| Apr 9, 9:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Andrews | 49 min |
| Apr 10, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Gaines | 65 min |
| Apr 10, 5:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF | Andrews | 57 min |
| Apr 10, 5:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MAF | Dawson | 60 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.