Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

April 16, 2001Howard County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 16, 2001, 6:58 PM CDT for Howard County, Texas. It was in force for 47 min. 4 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: Apr 16, 2001, 6:58 PM CDT (23:58 UTC)
Expired: Apr 16, 2001, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Howard County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:05 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
Apr 16, 7:05 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52 E	Big Spring, TX	Tree uprooted
Apr 16, 7:13 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Big Spring, TX
Apr 16, 7:26 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Big Spring, TX
Apr 16, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Big Spring, TX	A severe thunderstorm moved across the eastern portions of the city of Big Spring, producing golfball to baseball size hail and 40-50 mph winds over approximately a one mile stretch of land. It is estimated that 400 cars sustained hail damage.

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
Apr 16, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 12.0 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: 65 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -286 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 254 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

777 
WFUS54 KMAF 162359
TORMAF
TXC227-170045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
658 PM CDT MON APR 16 2001

THE MIDLAND-ODESSA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  HOWARD COUNTY IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 745 PM CDT

* AT 658 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO JUST EAST OF LUTHER...MOVING
  SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC STORM INCLUDE...    
  KNOTT...LOMAX...SOUTH HAVEN...ELBOW...SAND SPRINGS...LUTHER...
  VINCENT...COAHOMA AND BIG SPRING.

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.

LAT...LON 3249 10167 3210 10168 3211 10119 3251 10120

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 16, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Borden	62 min
Apr 16, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Howard	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.