Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 148, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 27, 1998Crane County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 27, 1998, 8:39 PM CST for Crane County, Texas. It was in force for 46 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, 8:39 PM CST (02:39 UTC)
Expired: Oct 27, 1998, 9:25 PM CST
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Crane County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:41 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
Oct 27, 9:10 PM CST	Hail 1.5	Crane, TX	This storm developed on the south flank of the storm that went through Culberson, Reeves, and Winkler Counties. This storm took about a 290 degree track while the storm to the north moved at about 270 degrees.

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
Oct 27, 5:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 65 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: 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.

204 
WUUS1 KMAF 280241 RRA
SVRMAF
TXC103-280325-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL AND EASTERN CRANE COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 925 PM CST

* AT 836 PM CST... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES WEST OF CRANE... MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE... CRANE.

  RADAR HAS INDICATED UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL ALONG HIGHWAY 329

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.

GNM/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 Oct 27, 6:33 PM CST, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 27, 6:33 PM CST, 2 hours 6 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 27, 6:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	32 min
Oct 27, 6:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Gaines	46 min
Oct 27, 6:18 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Winkler	47 min
Oct 27, 6:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	47 min
Oct 27, 6:48 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Winkler	2 hr
Oct 27, 7:24 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	31 min
Oct 27, 7:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Gaines	49 min
Oct 27, 7:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Crane	46 min
Oct 27, 9:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	60 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1998 Every 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.