Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 50, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 16, 2002Hemphill County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 2002, 8:30 PM CDT for Hemphill County, Texas. It was in force for 60 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2002, 8:30 PM CDT (01:30 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2002, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Hemphill County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:29 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
May 16, 8:47 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Mendota, TX
May 16, 9:29 PM CDT	Hail 1	Canadian, 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.

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
May 16, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 570 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 169 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KAMA 170130
SVRAMA
TXC211-170230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
830 PM CDT THU MAY 16 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN HEMPHILL COUNTY IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 930 PM CDT

* AT 830 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CANADIAN...MOVING       
  NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  MENDOTA AND CANADIAN

LARGE HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLF BALLS...DAMAGING WINDS...AND 
TORRENTIAL RAINS ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. TAKE COVER IN A 
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

LAT...LON 3563 10054 3563 10027 3605 10028 3606 10054

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 16, 3:50 PM CDT, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 3:50 PM CDT, 4 hours 40 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
350 PM CDT THU MAY 16 2002

SLOW-MOVING COLD FRONT EXTENDED WEST TO EAST ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN
FORECAST AREA BORDER. EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ALONG AND
NORTH. SOME SEVERE DUE TO INCREASED MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AND UPPER
LEVEL DYNAMICS.

COLD FRONT CONTINUES TO PUSH SOUTH OVERNIGHT. STRONG PRESSURE
GRADIENT SHOULD RESULT IN STRONGER SURFACE WINDS LATER TONIGHT INTO
EARLY FRIDAY. SUBSTANTIAL MOISTURE PERSISTS WITHIN UPSLOPE FLOW...SO
WELL KEEP GENEROUS CLOUD COVER THROUGH AT LEAST SATURDAY. DAYTIME
TEMPERATURES WILL BE COOLED AT LEAST A CATEGORY FROM PREVIOUS
FORECAST.

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST.

FCSTR ID=08

AMA 053/066/043/070 3211
DHT 049/065/044/072 4111=

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

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 16, 5:30 PM CDT, 3 hours before

OKZ001>003-TXZ001>010-170400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
530 PM CDT THU MAY 16 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
NUMBER 306 FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE
...CIMARRON...TEXAS...BEAVER...IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE...DALLAM...
SHERMAN...HANSFORD...OCHILTREE...LIPSCOMB...HARTLEY...MOORE...
HUTCHINSON...ROBERTS...AND HEMPHILL.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM CDT.

ANDRADE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hemphill	38 min
May 16, 7:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson, Moore	55 min
May 16, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	62 min
May 16, 8:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	37 min
May 16, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Roberts	55 min
May 16, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford	51 min
May 16, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford	48 min
May 16, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Sherman	51 min
May 16, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Roberts	44 min
May 16, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hemphill	82 min
May 16, 10:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hemphill	57 min
May 16, 11:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	26 min
May 17, 12:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Wheeler	45 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.