Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 121, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

July 12, 1998Dawson County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 12, 1998, 4:03 PM CDT for Dawson County, Texas. It was in force for 32 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
Jul 12, 1998, 4:03 PM CDT (21:03 UTC)
Expired
Jul 12, 1998, 4:35 PM CDT
In force
32 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 21:06 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 12, 4:15 PM CDTHail 1.25Lamesa, TXA hailstorm hit a cotton field and destroyed over 300 acres of the crop.
Jul 12, 4:20 PM CDTThunderstorm WindLamesa, TXThe same storm that hailed on the cotton took the roof off a barn and knocked down 6 utility poles.

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 nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-07-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 123 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 12:00Z on 1998-07-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 53 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
123 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-425 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2695 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

344 
WUUS1 KMAF 122105 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC115-122135-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
403 PM CDT SUN JUL 12 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN DAWSON COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 435 PM CDT

* AT 401 PM CDT... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM IN THE VICINITY OF LAMESA MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... UNION...
  FRIENDSHIP...AND LAMESA.

DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

JCP/EMP

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 12, 2:09 PM CDT, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 2:09 PM CDT, 1 hour 54 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
209 PM CDT (109 PM MDT) SUN JUL 12 1998

DEEP HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE SW/US SHOWS LITTLE SIGNS OF MOVEMENT
TO MIDWEEK. ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES TO CONTINUE WITH ISOLD TO
WIDELY SCATTERED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS...BEGINNING OVER THE HIGHER
TERRAIN AND WITH NW FLOW ALOFT STORMS SHOULD MIGRATE AWAY FROM
MOUNTAINS TO SOME EXTENT WHILE LASTING SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET. E-W SFC
TROUGH AT SFC NEXT 48 HRS MAY PROVIDE FOCUS FOR ISOLATED TSRA AS MAX
HEATING OCCURS. WITH TROUGH INVOF PERMIAN BASIN WINDS SHOULD BE
LIGHT AND VARIABLE EAST OF PECOS MONDAY. PROSPECT FOR RAIN FAIRLY
GOOD NEAR MOUNTAINS DESPITE CAP... WHICH HAS BEEN BROKEN THERE
EASILY NEAR NOON THIS WEEKEND. RECOMMEND MINIMAL POPS EAST OF PECOS
TO ACCOUNT FOR STRAY TSRA... HOWEVER WARM TEMPS ALOFT SHOULD INHIBIT
ANY ORGANIZED ACTIVITY. FWC GUIDANCE STILL A CAT TOO LOW. WL GO
HIGHER BOTH PERIODS EXCEPT MRF.

CNM 76/103 21
MAF 76/103 11
MRF 65/92  23
P07 78/101 1-

JCP/JLF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 12, 4:02 PM CDTTornado WarningMAFHoward13 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.