Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 15, NWS Amarillo, TX

April 13, 2002Oldham County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 13, 2002, 3:49 AM CDT for Oldham County, Texas. It was in force for 26 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 13, 2002, 3:49 AM CDT (08:49 UTC)
Expired: Apr 13, 2002, 4:15 AM CDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Oldham County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:52 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

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 12, 11:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 92 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: 880 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1630 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -51 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 
WUUS54 KAMA 130849
SVRAMA
TXC359-130915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
344 AM CDT SAT APR 13 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  OLDHAM COUNTY IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 415 AM CDT

* AT 344 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 14 MILES WEST OF BOYS RANCH...OR ABOUT 19 MILES
  NORTH OF VEGA. ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 20 MILES 
  NORTHWEST OF ADRIAN. THESE STORMS ARE MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. 

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  VEGA...WILDORADO...BOYS RANCH AND ADRIAN

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

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. TORNADOES CAN DEVELOP SUDDENLY
FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

LAT...LON 3563 10302 3519 10302 3519 10216 3562 10217

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 Apr 13, 3:10 AM CDT, 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 13, 3:10 AM CDT, 39 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
310 AM CDT SAT APR 13 2002

MCS CONTINUES TO EVOLVE OVER NRN HALF OF FCST AREA AS OF THIS
WRITING COURTESY OF LOW LVL EASTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW...MDT WNW MID LVL
FLOW...SUFFICIENT MOISTURE...QSTNRY FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO OUR S...AND
APCHG MID/UPPER LVL SHORTWAVE TROF FROM CO/NM. WILL WAIT TIL LAST
MINUTE TO DECIDE ON FIRST PERIOD POPS.

FOR LATER TODAY...EXPECT VORT MAX TO CONTINUE TRAVELING ESE ACROSS
FCST AREA...ENDING UP IN ERN ZNS/WRN OK BY 00Z. SHORT RANGE MODELS
ATTEMPT TO AGREE ON THIS SCENARIO. COULD SEE SOME MORE STORMS LATER
THIS AFTN/EVENING...EMPHASIS MAINLY E IF TIMING IS RIGHT. SPC DAY1
OUTLOOK SEEMS PLAUSIBLE AND MAY OPT TO MENTION PSBL SVR ERN ZNS.
TSTM THREAT DIMINISHES FURTHER INTO CNTRL AND WRN ZNS. WILL BLEED
LOW POPS INTO ERN ZNS SECOND PERIOD TO ACCOUNT FOR ABV BUT MAY
REMOVE CNTRL AND WRN AS THESE AREAS WILL BE WELL REMOVED FROM
SHORTWAVE TROF AXIS.

FOR SUNDAY...RETURN OF A DVLPG LEESIDE TROF OVER SERN CO AND ERN NM
LOOKS FINE AS UPPER LVL FLOW REMAINS SEMIZONAL BEFORE TRANSITIONING
TO SWRLY ON MONDAY. TSTM PROSPECTS DO NOT LOOK ALL THAT GOOD ON
SUNDAY AS LOW LVL MOISTURE WILL HAVE DECREASED...WEAK ANTICYCLONIC
LOW LVL FLOW IS ALSO PROGGED...ALONG WITH WEAK NW FLOW ALOFT.
HOWEVER...COULD SEE SOME ISOLATED HIGH BASED STORMS NEAR PROXIMITY
OF LEE TROF OR DUE TO UNSTABLE ATMO PROVIDED A MID LVL WARM LAYER
DOES NOT DVLP TOO STRONGLY...BUT THAT MAY BE STRETCHING IT. WILL GO
AHEAD AND REMOVE POPS FOR SUN AND SUN NIGHT.

FOR MON AND BEYOND...IT APPEARS TAIL END OF SHORT RANGE MODELS AND
ALL MEDIUM RANGE MODELS PROG AN AMPLIFIED PATTERN FEATURING AN ERN
PAC RIDGE...WRN US TROF...AND ERN US RIDGE. MODELS STILL DIFFER ON
DETAILS OF INDIVIDUAL SHORTWAVE TROFS EMBEDDED IN WRN TROF. DUE TO
ONGOING SVR WX AND MODEL DIFFERENCES DISCUSSED ABV...DO NOT
ANTICIPATE MAKING TOO MANY CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED PERIODS. PRELIM
VALUES FOLLOW.

NOTE...DUE TO ONGOING SVR WX IN AMARILLO AND OTHER PARTS OF
FCST AREA...MOST ROUTINE PRODUCTS WILL BE LATE.

DHT 72/48/80/49  2000
GUY 73/48/81/51  2000
BGD 74/49/81/52  2000
AMA 73/51/82/52  2000

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

ANDRADE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 12, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley	52 min
Apr 12, 11:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham	60 min
Apr 13, 12:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley	29 min
Apr 13, 12:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	46 min
Apr 13, 1:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Oldham	54 min
Apr 13, 2:04 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Oldham	41 min
Apr 13, 2:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	54 min
Apr 13, 3:17 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	28 min
Apr 13, 3:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Potter, Randall	34 min
Apr 13, 4:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Randall	58 min
Apr 13, 5:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Deaf Smith	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.