Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 48, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 5, 1997Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 1997, 9:04 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 31 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
Jul 5, 1997, 9:04 PM MDT (03:04 UTC)
Expired
Jul 5, 1997, 9:35 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 03:05 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 nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-07-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 777 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1997-07-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 28 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
777 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2110 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
235 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 060305 RRA
TORMAF
NMC025-060335-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
1004 PM CDT (904 PM MDT) SAT JUL 5 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 935 PM MDT (1035 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

   ...NORTHEASTERN LEA COUNTY
 
AT 900 PM MDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY MIDLAND DOPPLER
RADAR 11 MILES NORTHEAST OF LOVINGTON OR 8 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
MCDONALD MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS BUT
PASS OVER HIGHWAY 82 ABOUT 12 MILES NORTHEAST OF LOVINGTON BY 915 PM
MDT.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
REINFORCEDZ BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.


EARLE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 5, 8:02 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea48 min
Jul 5, 8:15 PM MDTTornado WarningMAFLea50 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.