Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Lubbock, TX

May 5, 2002Swisher County, Texas

NWS Lubbock, TX issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2002, 6:33 PM CDT for Swisher County, Texas. It was in force for 27 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 5, 2002, 6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Lubbock, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Swisher County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:35 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 5, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Happy, TX	Storm chaser video indicated that shortly after the large tornado dissipated, another tornado developed just west of town. This tornado tore a 150-yard wide path across the southern part of town. Fifteen homes were destroyed, including at least ten mobile ho
May 5, 6:59 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Happy, TX	The tornado that went through Happy dissipated over southern Randall County. Shortly after this dissipation, the same supercell produced another tornado just to the south of the previous tornado's track. This tornado was reported by a storm chaser. An NWS s

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
May 5, 4:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 58 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: 1503 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -85 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KLUB 052333
TORLBB
TXC437-060000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
633 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LUBBOCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN SWISHER COUNTY IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* AT 633 PM CDT...A STORM SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO 4 MILES WEST OF 
  HAPPY MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.  

* SOME LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THE STORM INCLUDE...
  HAPPY...

IN ADDITION TO THE THREAT OF A TORNADO...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW

LAT...LON 3474 10198 3468 10197 3470 10162 3475 10163

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Garza	49 min
May 5, 12:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Crosby	49 min
May 5, 12:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Lynn	40 min
May 5, 4:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Parmer	64 min
May 5, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Castro	46 min
May 5, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LUB	Castro	48 min
May 5, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Yoakum	44 min
May 5, 6:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Hockley	61 min
May 5, 6:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Cochran	57 min
May 5, 6:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Lamb	41 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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.