Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 24, 1999Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 24, 1999, 8:54 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 36 min. 2 reports 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 24, 1999, 8:54 PM MDT (02:54 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1999, 9:30 PM MDT
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lea County, NM

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 24, 9:00 PM MDTThunderstorm WindTatum, NMAnother transmission pole was downed as a bow formed in a developing line of storms.
May 24, 9:07 PM MDTHail 0.75Eunice, NM

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 24, 8:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 826 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 186 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
826 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
186 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
268 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 24, 6:52 PM MDT, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 6:52 PM MDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
752 PM CDT MON MAY 24 1999

CONVECTION COMING TOGETHER WRN AREAS AS TSTMS THAT INITIATED IN
MEXICAN MTNS DRIFTING E/NE WITH MEAN STEERING FLOW. EXPECT TSTMS TO
INCREASE IN COVERAGE...ESPECIALLY W OF PECOS RIVER...AS WELL DEFINED
OUTFLOW BOUNDARY NEARING THE PECOS RIVER LIKELY TO ENHANCE ONGOING
CONVECTION. OTHERWISE N OF THE BOUNDARY TEMPS HAVE COOLED AND
00Z KMAF SOUNDING SHOWING CAPES 1400 J/KG BUT STILL A CAP TO
OVERCOME. ATTM WOULD OPT TO MAINTAIN POPS N/E OF BOUNDARY WITH
UPDATES POSSIBLY LATER.

GPM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 7:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea59 min
May 24, 7:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFEddy52 min
May 24, 8:08 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea3 hr
May 24, 8:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea57 min
May 24, 9:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLea31 min
May 24, 9:49 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningMAFLea3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 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.