Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 55, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

May 31, 1999Glasscock County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1999, 7:08 PM CDT for Glasscock County, Texas. It was in force for 47 min. 2 reports came from 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, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 1999, 7:08 PM CDT (00:08 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1999, 7:55 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Glasscock County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:07 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 7:15 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Garden City, TX	The cluster that caused the landspout continued to move northeast and dropped this hail on State Highway 158.
May 31, 7:30 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Sterling City, TX	A brief tornado touched down west of Sterling City.

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 nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 80 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 4094 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 132 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 010013 COR
TORMAF
TXC173-010055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
708 PM CDT MON MAY 31 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN GLASSCOCK COUNTY IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 755 PM CDT

* AT 707 PM CDT...A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER REPORTED A TORNADO 18
  MILES NORTHEAST OF ST. LAWRENCE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC STORM INCLUDE...       
  HIGHWAY 158 EAST OF GARDEN CITY.

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 3166 10158 3166 10137 3179 10109 3204 10128

&

SD

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 31, 2:31 PM CDT, 4 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:31 PM CDT, 4 hours 37 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
231 PM CDT MON MAY 31 1999

DRYLINE EVOLVING EWD ATTM UNDERNEATH RIDGE PATTERN ALOFT. DWPNTS
INTO THE 30S AT KINK WHILE M50S KMAF. DRYLINE TO BE POSITIONED ACROSS
ERN CWA LATE AFTERNOON AS INTENSE SURFACE HEATING CONTINUES TO MIX
DRIER AIR TO THE SURFACE. ETA DEPICTS WEAKNESS IN CINH FIELDS ALONG/E
OF DRYLINE WHICH IS TO BE IN ERN CWA COINCIDENT WITH CAPES ON ORDER
OF 1000-1500 J/KG...ERGO, ISOLD/WDLY SCT POPS E. MTN TSTMS APPEAR
LESS FAVORABLE TODAY AS CONDITIONS DRIER/MORE STABLE THAN PAST FEW
DAYS. HOWEVER WILL INCLUDE ISOLD POPS AS VISIBLE IMAGERY SHOWING CU
FORMING AND FIRE WX OBS FROM BIG BEND INDICATE DWPNTS STILL IN 40S.
WARM PATTERN TO PERSIST ACROSS W TX/SE NM PER MID LEVEL RIDGE AND 7H
TEMPS OF 13-16 DEGREES C...WILL CONTINUE TREND OF DRY FCST THRU
WEDNESDAY. WILL GO WITH GENERALLY PC SKIES AS SW FLOW ALOFT CONTINUES
TO BRING MID/UPPER LEVEL PACIFIC MSTR INTO REGION. ATTM WOULD INCLUDE
SLIGHT CHC POPS IN EXTENDED AS UPPER TROF OVER SW USA APPROACHES
BACKING FLOW AND BRINGING MSTR BACK W WITH SOME COOLING IN MID LEVEL
NOTED. WZIS.

MAF 67/98/66/99  -/-/-/-
CNM 67/99/65/98  -/-/-/-
MRF 56/90/57/90  -/-/-/-
P07 68/97/69/97  -/-/-/-

GPM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 7:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Terrell	50 min
May 31, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	39 min
May 31, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Terrell	45 min
May 31, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	52 min
May 31, 9:18 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Pecos, Terrell	3 hr
May 31, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Terrell	49 min
May 31, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos, Terrell	62 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.