Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 30, 1998Reeves County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 30, 1998, 3:01 PM CST for Reeves County, Texas. It was in force for 34 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, 3:01 PM CST (21:01 UTC)
Expired: Oct 30, 1998, 3:35 PM CST
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Reeves County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 158 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:03 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 30, 3:05 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Pecos, TX	The hail was in a two mile wide swath that crossed US 285 and FM 1216 stripping bark and foilage from mesquite bushes.
Oct 30, 3:15 PM CST	Tornado F0	Pecos, TX	A supercell storm north of Pecos produced a weak tornado that caused little if any damage. The tornado dissipated before the storm passed into Ward county.

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 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 536 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -173 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 729 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 67 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 302104 COR
TORMAF
TXC389-302135-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
301 PM CST FRI OCT 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN REEVES COUNTY IN WESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 335 PM CST

* AT 259 PM CST... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS
  INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 11 MILES NORTHWEST OF PECOS OR 9
  MILES SOUTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF U.S. HIGHWAY 285 AND STATE
  HIGHWAY 302... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO PASS JUST SOUTH OF ARNO.
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.

RRF/GPM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 30, 3:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ward	33 min
Oct 30, 3:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Ward	50 min
Oct 30, 3:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Winkler	49 min
Oct 30, 4:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Winkler	60 min
Oct 30, 4:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	34 min
Oct 30, 5:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	47 min
Oct 30, 5:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	46 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.