Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 27, 1998Andrews County, Gaines County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 27, 1998, 5:41 PM CST for Andrews County, Gaines County, Texas. It was in force for 34 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, 5:41 PM CST (23:41 UTC)
Expired: Oct 27, 1998, 6:15 PM CST
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Andrews County, TX, Gaines County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:40 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 27, 5:45 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Andrews, TX	This storm had a long history of severe weather while crossing Southeast New Mexico. The storm quickly moved through the northwestern corner of Andrews County, then moved into southern Gaines County where it eventually weakened.

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 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 76 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -232 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

400 
WFUS1 KMAF 272343 RRA
TORMAF
TXC003-165-280015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
541 PM CST TUE OCT 27 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN ANDREWS COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS
  SOUTHWESTERN GAINES COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 615 PM CST

* AT 539 PM CST... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS
  INDICATED A TORNADO 32 MILES WEST OF ANDREWS OR 18 MILES WEST OF
  FRANKEL CITY... MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ALONG HIGHWAY 176 WEST OF
FRANKEL CITY.

IF YOU ARE IN A CAR...GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING AS A LAST
RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

SD/RB


&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 27, 3:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Culberson	32 min
Oct 27, 4:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Culberson	34 min
Oct 27, 4:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Culberson	31 min
Oct 27, 4:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Reeves	30 min
Oct 27, 4:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Culberson, Jeff Davis	47 min
Oct 27, 4:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Culberson	31 min
Oct 27, 5:02 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Loving, Reeves	33 min
Oct 27, 5:34 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Loving, Reeves	46 min
Oct 27, 5:34 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Winkler	46 min
Oct 27, 5:50 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Loving	95 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.