Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 2, 1999Reagan County, Upton County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 2, 1999, 9:52 PM CST for Reagan County, Upton County, Texas. It was in force for 53 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 2, 1999, 9:52 PM CST (03:52 UTC)
Expired: Apr 2, 1999, 10:45 PM CST
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Reagan County, TX, Upton County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:53 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 2, 9:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 3.9 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: 262 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3070 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 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.

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 030352
TORMAF
TXC383-461-030445-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
952 PM CST FRI APR 2 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1045 PM CST

* AT 950 PM CST... MIDLAND DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF RANKIN... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
  QUARTER SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE CITY RANKIN.

THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS.

ABANDON MOBILE HOMES! GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING. AS A LAST
RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

BC/RB


&

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.

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Apr 2, 1:38 PM CST, 8 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 2, 1:38 PM CST, 8 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
137 PM CST (1237 PM MST) FRI APR 2 1999

CURRENTLY DRYLINE HAS PUSHED TO THE EAST OF THE CWA.  18Z SURFACE
ANALYSIS HAD IT JUST WEST OF A DRT TO SJT TO ABI LINE.  RUC/NGM/ETA
ALL INDICATE THAT IT WILL MAKE A RETREAT LATER THIS EVENING INTO
PORTIONS OF THE EASTERN CWA.  AT THIS TIME AM NOT ANTICIPATING ANY
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CWA TONIGHT.  COLD FRONT
CURRENTLY LOCATED OVER WESTERN NEW MEXICO WEST OF AN ELP TO ABQ LINE
IS NOT MOVING MUCH...THINK THAT CURRENT MODEL FORECAST ON MOVEMENT OF
THE FRONT MAY BE CONSIDERABLY TOO FAST.

ALL MODELS A VERY SIMILAR IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TRACK OF THE UPPER
LEVEL LOW...ALL SEEM TO BE INDICATING THAT LOW WILL TAKE A MORE
NORTHERLY TRACK AND WEST TEXAS MAY NOT SEE ANY MORE OUT OF THIS
SYSTEM EXCEPT FOR A FEW MID TO HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS.  TOMORROW WILL BE
COOLER THAN TODAY AS THICKNESS VALUES FALL BEHIND THE PACIFIC FRONT.
SUNDAY SHOULD BE EVEN WARMER AS UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM MOVES TO THE NORTH
OF AREA AND SOUTHWESTERLY LOW LEVEL FLOW RETURNS TO WEST TEXAS.

MAF 048/072 044/078 0000
CNM 042/067 039/073 0000
MRF 038/064 034/068 0000
P07 055/075 051/080 0000

PLM/JC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 2, 8:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector, Midland	48 min
Apr 2, 8:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Dawson	50 min
Apr 2, 8:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Martin	47 min
Apr 2, 9:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Midland	32 min
Apr 2, 9:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Upton	61 min
Apr 2, 9:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Howard	61 min
Apr 2, 9:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Martin	47 min
Apr 2, 9:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	49 min
Apr 2, 10:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reagan	49 min
Apr 2, 10:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Scurry	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.