Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 10, 1997Dawson County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 10, 1997, 5:50 PM CDT for Dawson County, Texas. It was in force for 60 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, 5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
Expired: Apr 10, 1997, 6:50 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Dawson County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:54 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, 6:18 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Welch, TX
Apr 10, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Welch, TX	This third tornado formed in open country northeast of Welch and was very short-lived. The storm then entered southwestern Lynn County (see Lubbock synopsis).

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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 91 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 102251 RRA
TORMAF
TXC115-102350-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
550 PM CDT THU APR 10 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 650 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

   ...DAWSON COUNTY
 
AT 547 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR
AND SPOTTER REPORTS 19 MILES WEST OF LAMESA OR 12 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF WELCH MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... WELCH... PRIDE
AND GRANDVIEW.

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.

$$

PENDERGRAST/MURDOCH

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, 5:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Gaines	36 min
Apr 10, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Andrews	57 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.