Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 228

May 5, 2002Lea County, New Mexico; 25 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2002, 3:00 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico; 25 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2002, 3:00 PM MDT (21:00 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 9:00 PM MDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 26 counties

Lea County, NM, Andrews County, TX, Borden County, TX, Brewster County, TX, Crane County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Ector County, TX, Gaines County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Howard County, TX, Irion County, TX, Loving County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Mitchell County, TX, Pecos County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Reeves County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Sterling County, TX, Terrell County, TX, Upton County, TX, Val Verde County, TX, Ward County, TX, Winkler County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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.

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 3:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	58 min
May 5, 3:27 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	48 min
May 5, 4:06 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	39 min
May 5, 4:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	64 min
May 5, 4:29 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Brewster	31 min
May 5, 5:02 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MAF	Pecos	3 hr
May 5, 5:09 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Pecos	51 min
May 5, 6:04 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	56 min

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 1652 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -137 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 740 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 052047
SEL8  
SPC WW 052040
NMZ000-TXZ000-060300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 228
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
340 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO                         
   SOUTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 400 PM UNTIL 1000
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 60 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTH OF SANDERSON TEXAS TO 55 MILES EAST
NORTHEAST OF HOBBS NEW MEXICO.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 226...

DISCUSSION...SCATTERED STRONG STORMS / POSSIBLE SUPERCELLS EXPECTED
TO DEVELOP IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN ZONE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE/UPSLOPE FLOW ACROSS SE NM/FAR SW TX.  HIGH BOUNDARY
LAYER MOISTURE CONTENT/SSELY LOW LEVEL FLOW SUGGEST CHANCE FOR A
TORNADO WITH ANY MORE SUSTAINED STORMS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25025.

...CORFIDI

325,1004 291,1005 291,1035 325,1035

WWUS20 KWNS 052047
SEL8  
SPC WW 052040
NMZ000-TXZ000-060300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 228
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
340 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO                         
   SOUTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 400 PM UNTIL 1000
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 60 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES SOUTH OF SANDERSON TEXAS TO 55 MILES EAST
NORTHEAST OF HOBBS NEW MEXICO.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 226...

DISCUSSION...SCATTERED STRONG STORMS / POSSIBLE SUPERCELLS EXPECTED
TO DEVELOP IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN ZONE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE/UPSLOPE FLOW ACROSS SE NM/FAR SW TX.  HIGH BOUNDARY
LAYER MOISTURE CONTENT/SSELY LOW LEVEL FLOW SUGGEST CHANCE FOR A
TORNADO WITH ANY MORE SUSTAINED STORMS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25025.

...CORFIDI

325,1004 291,1005 291,1035 325,1035

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 3:45 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Roosevelt	5 hr
May 4, 9:45 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bell, Borden, Bosque, Brown, Callahan, Coke and 31 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2002 Tornado Watches in New Mexico, 2002 Every tornado watch 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.