Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 64, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 23, 2002Carson County, Hutchinson County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 2002, 6:26 PM CDT for Carson County, Hutchinson County, Texas. It was in force for 49 min. 5 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 23, 2002, 6:26 PM CDT (23:26 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2002, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Carson County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:26 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 23, 6:34 PM CDT	Hail 1	Fritch, TX
May 23, 6:34 PM CDT	Hail 1	Mc Bride, TX
May 23, 6:38 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Borger, TX
May 23, 6:38 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Borger, TX
May 23, 7:25 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Borger, 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 23, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 54 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: 1081 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -309 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1473 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 211 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 232326
SVRAMA
TXC065-233-240015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
624 PM CDT THU MAY 23 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN HUTCHINSON COUNTY IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
  NORTHERN CARSON COUNTY IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 624 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BORGER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* ANOTHER STORM 7 MILES NORTH/NORTHWEST OF PANHANDLE CAN PRODUCE 
  SEVERE WEATHER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  BORGER...STINNETT...SKELLYTOWN AND SANFORD

GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL...60 MPH WINDS...AND TORRENTIAL RAINS ARE EXPECTED 
WITH THIS STORM. TAKE COVER IN A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

LAT...LON 3559 10158 3540 10153 3556 10115 3597 10113
          3581 10149

SLATTERY

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 23, 2:55 PM CDT, 3 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 2:55 PM CDT, 3 hours 31 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
255 PM CDT THU MAY 23 2002

LATEST ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT COLD FRONT HAS STALLED OVER CNTRL ZNS
AS A NEW SFC LOW GETS BETTER ORGANIZED BETWEEN KROW AND KCVS AS
HINTED BY ETA MODEL. THIS SFC LOW IS PROGGED BY ALL SHORT RANGE
MODELS TO TRACK NEWD THRU FCST AREA TNGT AND FRI...WITH FRONTAL
BOUNDARY ACTUALLY RETREATING NWD TO NRN ZNS IN ACCORDANCE WITH 12Z
ETA/AVN/NGM...THEN MOVG SWD AGAIN LATER FRI AND FRI NIGHT...OUT OF
THE PNHDLS BY 12Z SAT. WILL CONTINUE TO CARRY HIGHEST POPS NERN HALF
TNGT...SLGT CHC ALL ZNS FRI...CHC POPS FRI NIGHT THRU THE MEMORIAL
WEEKEND. UA PATTERN FEATURES BROAD WSW FLOW WITH EMBEDDED
DISTURBANCES ZIPPING ACROSS ON OCCASION. COMBINATION OF MOISTURE...
WEAK IMPULSES AND PROXIMITY OF SFC BOUNDARIES WARRANTS THE CHC POPS
THRU WEEKEND...AGAIN FAIRLY TYPICAL OF CLIMATOLOGY OF LATE MAY HERE
ON SRN HI PLAINS. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS TEND TO AGREE ON BROAD WSW
FLOW ALOFT CONTINUING INTO TUE BEFORE HEIGHTS RISE AND RIDGING
OCCURS OVER WRN US. DEPENDING ON RIDGE AXIS...COULD SEE SOME SORT OF
NW FLOW OVER PNHDLS WED AND THU WHICH ALWAYS RAISES A CONCERN OF NW
FLOW WX EVENTS. WILL MAINTAIN THE CHC POPS FOR WED AND ADD THU IN AS
WELL DUE TO THAT PSBLTY BASED ON SOME SEMBLANCE OF MEDIUM RANGE
MODEL AGREEMENT...EXCEPTION BEING THE ECMWF WHICH HOLDS ON TO
SLIGHTLY LOWER HEIGHTS A BIT LONGER.

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

ANDRADE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 23, 1:15 PM CDT, 5 hours 11 minutes before

OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-232300-

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
115 PM CDT THU MAY 23 2002

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE OKLAHOMA
PANHANDLE AND NORTHEASTERN HALF OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH TONIGHT. THE SLIGHT RISK AREA EXTENDS NORTH AND EAST OF A
TEXLINE TO DALHART TO AMARILLO TO CHILDRESS LINE.

A COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM A SURFACE LOW OVER NORTHWESTERN
OKLAHOMA...TO NEAR BORGER...TO DALHART. A DRY LINE EXTENDS
FROM THE SURFACE LOW IN OKLAHOMA...TO NEAR AMARILLO...THEN
SOUTHWESTWARD ALONG THE TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO BORDER. THE DRY
LINE IS EXPECTED TO BECOME STATIONARY...OR SLOWLY RETREAT TO THE
NORTHWEST THIS AFTERNOON...AND BECOME A FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT. CLOUD COVER HAS DECREASED OVER THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL
PANHANDLES EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL
SURFACE HEATING THIS AFTERNOON...HELPING TO FURTHER DESTABILIZE THE
ATMOSPHERE. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL ALSO MOVE ACROSS
THE PANHANDLES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND WILL ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT.

THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP IN THE SLIGHT RISK AREA MAY RAPIDLY BECOME
SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. DUE TO WIND SHEAR AND
TURNING WINDS WITH HEIGHT...ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE
MAINLY IN THE EASTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE.

ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS OR SKYWARN SPOTTERS
WILL LIKELY BECOME NECESSARY LATE THIS AFTERNOON.

THE NEXT THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED AROUND 6 AM TOMORROW
MORNING.

FOX

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Randall	43 min
May 23, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter, Randall	36 min
May 23, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	63 min
May 23, 6:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	24 min
May 23, 6:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Lipscomb	27 min
May 23, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Ochiltree	55 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.