Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Lubbock, TX

May 9, 1999Dickens County, Texas

NWS Lubbock, TX issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1999, 7:37 PM CDT for Dickens County, Texas. It was in force for 38 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
May 9, 1999, 7:37 PM CDT (00:37 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1999, 8:15 PM CDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Lubbock, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Dickens County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:41 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
May 9, 8:15 PM CDTHail 1Dickens, TX

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
May 9, 2:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 198 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 31 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 214 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
31 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-411 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2682 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
227 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.

999 
WFUS1 KLBB 100039 RRA
TORLBB
TXC125-100115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
737 PM CDT SUN MAY 9 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LUBBOCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DICKENS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST TEXAS

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT

* AT 736 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 7 MILES EAST OF
  SPUR...OR ABOUT 12 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DICKENS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT
  25 MPH.

* LARGE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A REINFORCED BUILDING. AS
A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND
COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 9, 6:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
TXZ022>044-100100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
623 PM CDT SUN MAY 9 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 231
FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN THE SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE AND THE
SOUTH PLAINS...

CASTRO     SWISHER     BAILEY     LAMB     COCHRAN     HOCKLEY
YOAKUM     TERRY

THE TORNADO WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES IN THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE...THE SOUTH PLAINS AND THE LOW
ROLLING PLAINS...

BRISCOE    HALL        CHILDRESS  HALE     FLOYD       MOTLEY
COTTLE     LUBBOCK     CROSBY     DICKENS  KING        LYNN
GARZA      KENT        STONEWALL

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED INTO THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE
WATCH AREA AND THE ATMOSPHERE HAS STABILIZED FOR THE TIME BEING WEST
OF A TULIA-LEVELLAND-BROWNFIELD LINE.

LISTEN FOR LATER INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

EJC
Special weather statement, May 9, 6:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
TXZ022>044-100100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
623 PM CDT SUN MAY 9 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 231
FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN THE SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE AND THE
SOUTH PLAINS...

CASTRO     SWISHER     BAILEY     LAMB     COCHRAN     HOCKLEY
YOAKUM     TERRY

THE TORNADO WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES IN THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE...THE SOUTH PLAINS AND THE LOW
ROLLING PLAINS...

BRISCOE    HALL        CHILDRESS  HALE     FLOYD       MOTLEY
COTTLE     LUBBOCK     CROSBY     DICKENS  KING        LYNN
GARZA      KENT        STONEWALL

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED INTO THE EASTERN PORTION OF THE
WATCH AREA AND THE ATMOSPHERE HAS STABILIZED FOR THE TIME BEING WEST
OF A TULIA-LEVELLAND-BROWNFIELD LINE.

LISTEN FOR LATER INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

EJC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Lubbock, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 7:00 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBCrosby, Garza2 hr
May 9, 7:11 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBCottle, King64 min
May 9, 7:15 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBKent30 min
May 9, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBKent46 min
May 9, 8:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBDickens47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes in 1999

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.