Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 15, 1999Terrell County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 1999, 6:48 PM CDT for Terrell County, Texas. It was in force for 42 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 1999, 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 1999, 7:30 PM CDT
In force
42 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Terrell County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 180 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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 nearest sounding before it

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 177 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, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1999-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2068 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, Del Rio, TX at 12:00Z on 1999-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -14 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2068 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-285 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1254 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KMAF 152350 RRA
TORMAF
TXC443-160030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
648 PM CDT SAT MAY 15 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN TERRELL COUNTY IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 645 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO OVER WEST CENTRAL 
  TERRELL COUNTY...ABOUT 20 MILES NORTH OF SANDERSON...MOVING SOUTH  
  AT 10 MPH.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH ALSO ARE 
POSSIBLE WITH THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS...FOR THE
LATEST SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION.

LAT...LON 3044 10237 3028 10237 3020 10235 3021 10226
          3026 10217 3045 10226

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 May 15, 6:00 PM CDT, 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 6:00 PM CDT, 48 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
600 PM CDT SAT MAY 15 1999

DRYLINE EVIDENT IN SURFACE ANALYSES AND IN WSR-88D IMAGERY FROM
BETWEEN GAIL AND SNYDER SOUTH TO GARDEN CITY AND IRAAN.  LATEST ARPS
ANALYSIS FROM HUB-CAPS INDICATES EXTREME INSTABILITIES (SBCAPES AOA
4000 J/KG) ALONG AND EAST OF THE DRYLINE BUT CAPPED WITH CINS AROUND
50 J/KG.  CU FIELD NOTED INVOF LOCAL MAXIMUM IN MOISTURE CONVERGENCE
WITH A FEW TOWERS GOING UP BETWEEN SNYDER AND BIG SPRING.

RECOMMEND INTRODUCING SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR MAFS EASTERN CWA AND
BOOST POPS TO SLIGHT CHANCE OVER TERRELL/PECOS COUNTIES TO COVER
ONGOING ACTIVITY.  CIN AND RELATIVELY WEAK MID LEVEL SR FLOW WILL
LIMIT SEVERE POTENTIAL SOMEWHAT...BUT WE WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR...
70.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 6:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFTerrell56 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.