Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 263, NWS Midland/Odessa, TX

October 18, 2002Ward County, Texas

NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 18, 2002, 5:31 PM CDT for Ward County, Texas. It was in force for 3 hr. 4 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: Oct 18, 2002, 5:31 PM CDT (22:31 UTC)
Expired: Oct 18, 2002, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Midland/Odessa, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Ward County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 12 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:30 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
Oct 18, 7:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 57 E	Odessa, TX	Severe thunderstorm winds blew down power lines and rolled two trailer houses. Damage extended from West Odessa to the city of Odessa.
Oct 18, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Odessa, TX	Dime size hail was reported on the Ector/Midland County line.
Oct 18, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Midland Arpt, TX	Dime size hail was reported on the Ector/Midland County line.
Oct 18, 7:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61 E	Midland, 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 18, 1:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 12 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: 139 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 630 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 225 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 301 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS54 KMAF 182231
SVRMAF
TXC389-475-182330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
530 PM CDT FRI OCT 18 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MIDLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN WARD COUNTY IN WEST TEXAS
  CENTRAL REEVES COUNTY IN WEST TEXAS

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 530 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF PECOS...MOVING EAST AT 30
  MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  NORTHERN PECOS...THE INTERSECTION OF U.S. AND THE INTERSECTION OF  
  U.S. HWY 285 AND SH 302.

LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND VERY HEAVY RAINS ARE EXPECTED WITH 
THIS STORM. 

LAT...LON 3165 10375 3144 10367 3135 10333 3143 10314
          3161 10313

The office that day

Everything else NWS Midland/Odessa, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 18, 2:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	4 hr
Oct 18, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	3 hr
Oct 18, 4:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	3 hr
Oct 18, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reeves, Ward	3 hr
Oct 18, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	3 days
Oct 18, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ward	4 days
Oct 18, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane, Ward	4 days

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.