Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

June 20, 1998Upton County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 20, 1998, 6:26 PM CDT for Upton County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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: Jun 20, 1998, 6:26 PM CDT (23:26 UTC)
Expired: Jun 20, 1998, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Upton County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:27 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
Jun 20, 6:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Mc Camey, TX	Thunderstorm outflow winds knocked down at least one utility pole as well as some highway signs along Texas 329.

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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 66 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: 1182 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -303 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2351 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

880 
WFUS1 KMAF 202329 RRA
TORMAF
TXC461-210015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
626 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN UPTON COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 625 PM CDT... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 6 MILES EAST OF CRANE OR 4 MILES WEST OF THE INTERSECTION
  OF STATE HIGHWAY 329 AND FM 1492 MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE... THE INTERSECTION
  OF STATE HIGHWAY 329 AND FM 1492.

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.

SVG/RSB/EMP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock, Midland	33 min
Jun 20, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	31 min
Jun 20, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane	31 min
Jun 20, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	32 min
Jun 20, 6:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	44 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.