Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2001

Tornado Watch 206

May 6, 200117 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT for 17 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 6, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2001, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Atascosa County, TX, Bandera County, TX, Bexar County, TX, Dimmit County, TX, Duval County, TX, Frio County, TX, Jim Wells County, TX, Kinney County, TX, La Salle County, TX, Live Oak County, TX, Maverick County, TX, McMullen County, TX, Medina County, TX, Nueces County, TX, Uvalde County, TX, Webb County, TX, Zavala County, TX

The radar

The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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.

Warnings issued inside it

12 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	54 min
May 6, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	60 min
May 6, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Bexar	54 min
May 6, 7:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Webb	40 min
May 6, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Atascosa, Frio, Medina	60 min
May 6, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	60 min
May 6, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Dimmit, Zavala	52 min
May 6, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	65 min
May 6, 8:50 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	La Salle	3 hr
May 6, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle, McMullen	60 min
May 6, 10:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	25 min
May 6, 11:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Duval	33 min

The nearest sounding before it

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 183 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: 2568 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 564 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 5.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS9 KMKC 062302
SEL6  

SEL6  
MKC WW 062257
TXZ000-070500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 206
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
557 PM CDT SUN MAY 6 2001

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING FROM 600 PM UNTIL
MIDNIGHT CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES NORTHWEST OF HONDO TEXAS TO 45 MILES WEST
SOUTHWEST OF ALICE TEXAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 202...WW 203...WW
204...WW 205...

DISCUSSION...STORMS CONTINUE TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY IN AREA OF VERY
UNSTABLE AIR MASS AND MODERATE DEEP LAYER SHEAR.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 600. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27030.


...MCCARTHY

;294,0982 272,0972 272,1000 294,1010;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Knox, Montague, Wichita and 1 more	4 hr
May 6, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bell, Blanco, Bosque, Brown, Burnet, Coleman and 30 more	6 hr
May 6, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton and 25 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2001 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.