Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 57, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

June 2, 1999Lea County, New Mexico

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 1999, 5:22 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico. It was in force for 38 min. 3 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: Jun 2, 1999, 5:22 PM MDT (23:22 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1999, 6:00 PM MDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lea County, NM

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 176 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:22 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
Jun 2, 5:25 PM MDT	Hail 2	Maljamar, NM
Jun 2, 5:33 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Maljamar, NM
Jun 2, 6:00 PM MDT	Hail 1	Lovington, NM	As the storms approached Lovington they formed into a multicell line.

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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 2, 3:30 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 1289 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -285 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1531 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMAF 022323 RRA
TORMAF
NMC025-030000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND-ODESSA TX
522 PM MDT WED JUN 2 1999

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LEA COUNTY IN NEW MEXICO

* UNTIL 600 PM MDT

* AT 516 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED 
  A DEVELOPING TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MALJAMAR...MOVING 
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC STORM INCLUDE...    
  MALJAMAR AND LOVINGTON.

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 3291 10380 3271 10377 3294 10333 3321 10358

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 Jun 2, 1:40 PM MDT, 3 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 2, 1:40 PM MDT, 3 hours 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND TX
240 PM CDT WED JUN 2 1999

KMAF WSR-88D INDCS WDLY SCT/DVLPG TSTMS IN EDDY CO NM-NEAR GDP ATTM.
18Z MAF SOUNDING SHOWED LI MINUS 11 AND CAPE NEAR 4400 J/KG WITH
STEEP LAPSE RATES. 18Z MAF SOUNDING ALSO SHOWED 80-90 KT WLY WNDS
ABOVE H3. VERY PRONOUNCED SHEAR PROFILE IN SOUNDING FOR SVR
SUPERCELL TSTMS. INHIBITING FACTOR IS NEARLY 5 DEG C CAP. EXTENSIVE
MID/HI LVL CLOUDINESS ACR CWA ATTM ASSOCD WITH APCHG SPEED MAX ACR
NRN MEXICO/SWRN NM. DIFFLUENCE ALF OCCURRING ACR SRN ROCKIES/ HIGH
PLAINS ENHANCING LIFT. LONG WAVE TROF CONTINUES OVR INTERMTN REGION
WITH DEEP UPR LOW DIGGING SWD ALG THE PAC COAST. GENLY SELY LOW LVL
FLOW E OF MTNS WITH SFC DWPNTS AOA 60F N/E PECOS RIVER. MODELS IN
DECENT AGREEMENT THIS FCST PERIOD. SHORTWAVE TO MOVE ACR ERN NM THIS
EVE AND ACROSS THE CNTRL HIGH PLAINS TNGT. UNSTBL AMS WITH LI/S
APCHG MINUS 4-6 AND CAPES 1500-2500 J/KG PROGGED TNGT E OF MTNS.
MODIFIED SOUNDINGS/18Z MAF SOUNDING INDC STM MOTIONS 245/27 KTS. WITH
DRY LINE XPCD TO REMAIN JUST E CNTRL NM-W TX MTN CHAIN BELIEVE CNVTN
TO DVLP WRN AREAS AND MOVE E TNGT. LLJ FCST TO DVLP TNGT AS H85 WNDS
INCR. SCT POPS MERITED TNGT E OF MTNS. SWLY FLOW ALF CONTS THUR
AHEAD OF W COAST SYS. BEST MID/UPR LVL FORCING EXPECTED TO BE WELL N
OF CWA WITH GRADUAL LOW LVL DRYING INDICATED. THUS WILL CONTINUE
WITH NIL- POP FCST EXCEPT FOR MTNS WHERE AN ISOLD AFTN TSTM MAY
OCCUR. WRN US TROF TO PREVAIL INTO EARLY WEEKEND SUGGESTING THAT DRY
LINE WILL BE PULLED WWD LATE THUR...PERHAPS ALONG E SLPS CNTRL NM-W
TX MTN CHAIN. THIS SCENARIO SUGGESTS MAINLY AFTN/ERY NIGHT
SHWRS/TSTMS TO OCCUR INTO SAT. MAY BE BREEZY WRN SECTIONS SAT WITH
PASSAGE OF SWRN US SYSTEM. EXTENDED PROGS SUGGEST SFC TROF/DRY LINE
QSTNRY ALONG ERN NM/TX BORDER. APPEARS TO BE SUFFICIENT MSTR FOR
CONTINUED SLGT CHC TSTMS INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK.

BF

MAF   70/94/70/95   30/10/10/20
CNM   65/97/64/98   20/5/5/20
MRF   63/91/62/91   20/10/5/20
P07   74/92/74/93   20/10/5/20

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 3:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Eddy	41 min
Jun 2, 3:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Eddy	33 min
Jun 2, 4:36 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Eddy	39 min
Jun 2, 4:53 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	67 min
Jun 2, 5:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Eddy	35 min
Jun 2, 5:57 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Lea	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New Mexico, 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.