Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 58, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 20, 2000Potter County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 2000, 9:21 PM CDT for Potter County, Texas. It was in force for 54 min. 3 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 20, 2000, 9:21 PM CDT (02:21 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2000, 10:15 PM CDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Potter County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:22 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
May 20, 9:32 PM CDT	Hail 1	Amarillo, TX
May 20, 9:43 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Amarillo, TX
May 20, 9:48 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	(Ama)Amarillo Intl A, TX

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

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 26 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: 203 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

845 
WUUS54 KAMA 210221
SVRAMA
TXC375-210315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
921 PM CDT SAT MAY 20 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN POTTER COUNTY IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 1015 PM CDT

* AT 921 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER POTTER COUNTY...OR ABOUT 11 MILES         
  NORTHWEST OF AMARILLO...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND TORRENTIAL RAINS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS 
STORM. TAKE COVER IN A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 20, 2:10 PM CDT, 7 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 2:10 PM CDT, 7 hours 11 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
210 PM CDT SAT MAY 20 2000

WIND SHIFT/COOL FRONT IS A AHEAD OF SCHEDULE...WITH NONE OF THE
MODELS HAVING A GOOD HANDLE ON ITS POSITION OR SPEED. JUDGING FROM
SATELLITE IT SHOULD MOVE INTO THE NORTHWESTERN ZONES LATE
AFTERNOON/EARLY THIS EVENING AND ACROSS THE ENTIRE CWA OVERNIGHT.
BEST LLM AND INSTABILITY WILL STILL BE IN THE EASTERN ZONES SO WILL
KEEP SEVERE STORMS MENTION THERE. HOWEVER WITH FRONT HAVING ALREADY
BECOME ACTIVE ACROSS WRN KS/SE CO AND WITH THE EARLIER TIMING...THEIR
WILL BE INCREASED INSTABILITY SO WILL INCREASE POPS ACROSS FA
TONIGHT.

THE AIR MASS BEHIND THE FRONT IS QUITE MODIFIED AND TEMPS TOMORROW
WILL NOT BE MUCH COOLER. THIS ALONG WITH A LLJ FORECASTED OVER THE
PANHANDLES COULD SUPPORT ADDITIONAL TSTMS LATE SUNDAY
AFTERNOON/EVENING MAINLY EASTERN ZONES. BY MONDAY A STRENGTHENING CAP
SHOULD KEEP MOST CONVECTION CHANCES SUPPRESSED.

IN THE EXTENDED...TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE IN
PLACE FOR WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS. THURSDAY THE MODELS ARE NOT IN
AGREEMENT AND THE MRF IS INDICATING A SYSTEM DEVELOPING AND MOVING
INTO THE WESTERN U.S. WITH A SHORT WAVE MOVING OVER THE REGION FOR
SLIGHTLY COOLER TEMPS. ATTM NOT IMPRESSED WITH MOISTURE OR DYNAMICS
SO WILL LEAVE POPS OUT.

SOME PRELIMINARY NUMBERS:
AMA 52/82 55/92 58 520
DHT 51/82 52/91 53 500

.AMA...
TX...NONE.
OK...NONE.

ND

The office that day

Everything else NWS Amarillo, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 8:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	43 min
May 20, 9:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Randall	54 min
May 20, 9:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Carson	56 min
May 20, 10:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong	50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.