Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 348

May 27, 2002Harmon County, Oklahoma; 19 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 27, 2002, 7:30 PM CDT for Harmon County, Oklahoma; 19 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 27, 2002, 7:30 PM CDT (00:30 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 2002, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Harmon County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Childress County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Motley County, TX, Randall County, TX, Swisher County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:31 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 7:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Dickens	41 min
May 27, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Hall	45 min
May 27, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Floyd	47 min

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 132 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -167 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1222 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 280014
SEL8  
SPC WW 280010
OKZ000-TXZ000-280500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 348
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
710 PM CDT MON MAY 27 2002

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

   EXTREME SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA                           
   NORTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING FROM 730 PM UNTIL
MIDNIGHT CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 70 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHILDRESS TEXAS TO 85 MILES
EAST SOUTHEAST OF LUBBOCK TEXAS.

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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 344.  WATCH NUMBER 344 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 730 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 343...WW 345...WW 346...WW 347...

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED SUPERCELLS SHOULD PERSIST FOR ANOTHER COUPLE
OF HOURS JUST SOUTH OF UPPER LOW AND SOUTHEAST OF SURFACE FRONT
EXTENDING FROM W-CENTRAL TX INTO WRN OK.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS WILL REMAIN PRIMARY THREATS...THOUGH STORM-RELATIVE WINDS/
HELICITIES REMAIN SUPPORTIVE OF DEEP ROTATION AND POSSIBLY A FEW
TORNADOES.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27015.


...EVANS

350,0994 331,0990 331,1014 350,1022

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Borden, Brown and 36 more	4 hr
May 27, 11:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Blanco, Burleson, Burnet and 16 more	6 hr
May 28, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Andrews, Crane, Crockett, Dawson, Ector, Edwards and 13 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2002 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 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.