Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 314

May 8, 199821 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 1998, 9:15 PM CDT for 21 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 1998, 9:15 PM CDT (02:15 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1998, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 21 counties

Bell County, TX, Bosque County, TX, Brown County, TX, Burnet County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Concho County, TX, Coryell County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hill County, TX, Lampasas County, TX, Llano County, TX, Mason County, TX, McCulloch County, TX, McLennan County, TX, Menard County, TX, Mills County, TX, Navarro County, TX, San Saba County, TX, Sutton County, TX, Williamson County, TX

Warnings issued inside it

1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 10:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Mills	44 min

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 242 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 86 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 193 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 576 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.

008 
WWUS9 KMKC 090146
SEL4  
MKC WW 090146
TXZ000-090700-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 314
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
846 PM CDT FRI MAY 8 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 915 PM UNTIL
200 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES EAST OF JUNCTION TEXAS TO 50 MILES
NORTHWEST OF WACO TEXAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 313...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE INTENSIFYING ALONG THE DRY LINE JUST
EAST OF SAN ANGELO...WITH OTHER STORMS DEVELOPING SOUTHWESTWARD. 
STORMS SHOULD CONTINUE DEVELOPING AS THE DRY LINE BEGINS TO MOVE
EASTWARD IN RESPONSE TO STRONG UPPER LOW MOVING TOWARD WEST TEXAS. 
AIR MASS IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE OVER THIS REGION...AND WIND
PROFILES SHOW STRONG VEERING WITH HEIGHT AND FAVORABLE
SHEAR/HELICITY AND STORM RELATIVE WINDS FOR POSSIBLE TORNADIC
SUPERCELLS. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 580. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24045.


...WEISS

303,1004 320,0992 320,0961 303,0974

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Callahan, Clay, Collin, Cooke and 25 more	6 hr
May 8, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Foard, Hardeman, Wichita, Wilbarger	5 hr
May 9, 12:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bowie, Camp, Cass, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison and 12 more	5 hr
May 9, 12:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bowie, Cass	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 1998 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.