Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 146, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 27, 1998Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 27, 1998, 6:20 PM MST for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 35 min. 1 report 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
Oct 27, 1998, 6:20 PM MST (01:20 UTC)
Expired
Oct 27, 1998, 6:55 PM MST
In force
35 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 01:20 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
Oct 27, 6:25 PM MSTThunderstorm WindMc Donald, NMThunderstorm winds severely damaged two barns in the McDonald and the Prarieview areas.

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 00:00Z, 1.3 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 1998-10-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 237 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 1998-10-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
237 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-165 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1021 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Oct 27, 5:33 PM MST, 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 27, 5:33 PM MST, 47 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
633 PM CST (533 PM MST) TUE OCT 27 1998

AT 625 PM...STRONG/SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH AN EMBEDDED PERSISTENT
MESOCYCLONE NEAR KERMIT CONTINUES MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.  STORMS ARE
BEGINNING TO BECOME LESS CELLULAR AND EVOLVE INTO A BROKEN LINE OVER
THE PAST HOUR.

QUICK SURFACE ANALYSIS AT 00Z SHOWS A ZONE OF HIGHER INSTABILITIES
ABOUT 80NM WIDE EXTENDING FROM HOBBS TO DEL RIO WITH ADAP LIS AROUND
MINUS 5...AND APPARENT MESOLOW NEAR KERMIT ASSOCIATED WITH LOW LEVEL
DRY AIR INTRUSION FROM NORTHERN MEXICO.

CURRENT INDICATIONS ARE STORMS WILL WEAKEN AROUND 02Z WITH LOSS OF
HEATING AND DYNAMICS AS MID-LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH PULLS
NORTHEASTWARD INTO CENTRAL PLAINS.

EBC/RRF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 27, 5:08 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFWard32 min
Oct 27, 5:14 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFGaines46 min
Oct 27, 5:18 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFWinkler47 min
Oct 27, 5:38 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFWard47 min
Oct 27, 5:48 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningMAFWinkler2 hr
Oct 27, 6:24 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFWard31 min
Oct 27, 6:41 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFGaines49 min
Oct 27, 6:49 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFCrane46 min
Oct 27, 7:39 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane46 min
Oct 27, 8:20 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFUpton60 min
Oct 27, 5:45 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Mexico, 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.