Alert archive / New Mexico / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 162, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 30, 1998Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 30, 1998, 7:47 PM MST for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 33 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
Oct 30, 1998, 7:47 PM MST (02:47 UTC)
Expired
Oct 30, 1998, 8:20 PM MST
In force
33 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 02:47 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 30, 8:00 PM MSTHail 1.75Jal, NM
Oct 30, 8:00 PM MSTThunderstorm Wind 52Jal, NM

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Oct 30, 2:15 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr
Oct 30, 3:45 PM MSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 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 1998-10-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 728 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 1998-10-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 22 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
728 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-220 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1105 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
89 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 310249
SVRMAF
NMC025-310320-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
847 PM CST (747 PM MST) FRI OCT 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN LEA COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO

* UNTIL 820 PM MST (920 PM CST)

* AT 746 PM MST...MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 19 MILES NORTH OF WINK OR 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  BENNETT...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...BENNETT AND JAL.

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

AKL/GPM

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 30, 1:44 PM MST, 6 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 30, 1:44 PM MST, 6 hours 3 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
244 PM CST FRI OCT 30 1998

CONVECTION HAS FIRED ALONG THE EASTERN SLOPES OF THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS
NORTH TO BETWEEN KCSM AND KHOB.  WE AGREE WITH SPC/S ASSESSMENT IN
THEIR LATEST SWOMCD.  SEVERE CONVECTION MAY FOCUS ALONG THE EASTERN
AND SOUTHERN EDGES OF THE COLD POOL SPREADING BENEATH THE CURRENT
ACTIVITY...AND IF THIS IS INDEED THE CASE...ORIENTATION OF THIS
BOUNDARY RELATIVE TO THE STORM-RELATIVE FLOW MAY SUPPORT STORMS
HAVING PERSISTENT ROTATION.

THUNDERSTORMS...SOME SEVERE...SHOULD CONTINUE MOVING EAST ACROSS THE
CWA THIS EVENING WITH LINGERING SHOWERS IN THEIR WAKE AS THE
SOUTHWESTERN CA SHORTWAVE TROUGH APPROACHES THE AREA.  BOTH THE ETA
AND MM5 MODELS SUGGEST ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT SATURDAY AS A DRYLINE
SHARPENS UP AND PUNCHES INTO WEST TX.  WSFO LBB HAS THIS SCENARIO
HANDLED NICELY.  REGARDING THE NUMBERS...FWC GUIDANCE LOWS TONIGHT
ARE LOW GIVEN CLOUDS AND MOISTURvE...OTHERWISE GUIDANCE IS CLOSE TO
PRESENT THINKING.  THANKS FOR COORD ABQ AND LBB.  SNAP COUNT
FOLLOWS...

MAF 63/72 70/60
CNM 56/66 60/50
MRF 55/64 60/50
P07 64/78 60/50

BC/BF/SG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 30, 7:11 PM MST, 36 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
811 PM CST (711 PM MST) FRI OCT 30 1998

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

315 PM     5 N PECOS                 TX   TORNADO
10/30/98   REEVES                         SPOTTER REPORTED BRIEF
                                          TORNADO

415 PM     WINK                      TX   HAIL
10/30/98   WINKLER                        GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY SHERIFF OFFICE

510 PM     8 SE ALPINE               TX   HAIL
10/30/98   BREWSTER                       ONE AND A HALF INCH HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

530 PM     20 SW ARTESIA             NM   TORNADO
10/30/98   EDDY                           SPOTTER REPORTED BRIEF
                                          TORNADO

543 PM     10 E ALPINE               TX   HAIL
10/30/98   BREWSTER                       QUARTER SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY SHERIFF OFFICE

559 PM     CARLSBAD                  NM   HAIL
10/30/98   EDDY                           ONE INCH HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY SPOTTER

715 PM     BENNET                    NM   HAIL
10/30/98   LEA                            GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER

733 PM     2 E JAL         `          NM   TSTM WIND GUST
10/30/98   LEA                            SPOTTER REPORTED POWER
                                          LINES DOWNED

RRF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 30, 5:53 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea47 min
Oct 30, 6:25 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFLea50 min
Oct 30, 7:04 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea3 hr
Oct 30, 8:03 PM MSTTornado WarningMAFLea32 min
Oct 30, 10:08 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea62 min
Oct 30, 11:14 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea61 min
Oct 31, 12:29 AM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea56 min
Oct 31, 8:49 AM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea46 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.