Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 36, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 16, 1999Terrell County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1999, 5:46 PM CDT for Terrell County, Texas. It was in force for 59 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 16, 1999, 5:46 PM CDT (22:46 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1999, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 59 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), 161 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:47 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 2474 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -146 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1084 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 3.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KMAF 162248 RRA
TORMAF
TXC443-162345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
546 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 541 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 21 MILES WEST OF THE   
  TERRELL GAS PLANT OR 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF SANDERSON...MOVING EAST 
  AT 15 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC STORM INCLUDE...    
  THE TERRELL GAS PLANT.

LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM.

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 3058 10225 3040 10226 3034 10175 3062 10171

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 16, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
230 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

CURRENT VIS LOOPS SHOWS ONLY FAIR WX CU/MID-LVL CLOUDINESS OVR ERN
CWA.  18Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS DRYLINE FM ABOUT A KLBB-KMAF-KP07 LINE
AND PROGRESSING EWD.  DRYLINE NOT REAL DISCONTINUOUS AND CONVERGENCE
JUST BARELY SHOWING UP ON KMAF 88D...MAINLY S.  ALL MODELS HAVE
REASONABLE GRIP ON DRYLINE BUT ETA PLACES IT THE BEST.  HOW FAR IT
GETS BEFORE SWRN L/WV OVERTAKES IT WILL DETERMINE WHERE ALL THE
ACTION BEGINS.  ETA FCSTS DRYLINE TO REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY THRU
MON 12Z...AND W/APPROACHING L/WV...BELIEVE POPS ARE MENTIONABLE IN
ERN CWA IN 1ST 2 PDS.  WON/T HIT IT TOO HARD THOUGH...AS PAST 2 DAYS
HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTING.  GOES DERIVED SOUNDINGS SHOW MOST FAVORABLE
ENVIRONMENT TO BE IN SW CWA AFTER CAP ERODES.  LOOKING AT
PROFILERS...AND CAPES...ENVIRONMENT E OF DRYLINE COULD SUPPORT
SEVERE DEVELOPMENT...SO WILL MENTION IT IN ZONES AS WELL.

GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK TO BE REASONABLE...GIVEN H85 FCST TEMPS AND COLD
FNT TO SAG SWD AROUND TUE 18Z AS TROF PASSES TO N...SO WILL NOT STRY
TOO FAR.  CCF AND WZIZ

MAF 60/88/56/85 1100
CNM 59/87/55/86 0000
MRF 48/83/45/84 0000
P07 65/94/63/86 2200

44

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Terrell	65 min
May 16, 4:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Terrell	67 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.