Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 147, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 27, 1998Gaines County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 27, 1998, 7:41 PM CST for Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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
Oct 27, 1998, 7:41 PM CST (01:41 UTC)
Expired
Oct 27, 1998, 8:30 PM CST
In force
49 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 01:40 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Oct 27, 5:15 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 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.

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

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

950 
WUUS1 KMAF 280142 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC165-280230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
741 PM CST TUE OCT 27 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  GAINES COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 830 PM CST

* AT 739 PM CST... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SEMINOLE OR 23 MILES SOUTHWEST
  OF PAYNES CORNER... MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... PAYNES CORNER.

GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

RRF/RSB

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, 6:33 PM CST, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 27, 6:33 PM CST, 1 hour 8 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, 6:08 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFWard32 min
Oct 27, 6:14 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFGaines46 min
Oct 27, 6:18 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFWinkler47 min
Oct 27, 6:38 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFWard47 min
Oct 27, 6:48 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMAFWinkler2 hr
Oct 27, 7:24 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFWard31 min
Oct 27, 7:49 PM CSTTornado WarningMAFCrane46 min
Oct 27, 8:39 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane46 min
Oct 27, 9:20 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFUpton60 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.