Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 353

May 28, 2002Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico; 19 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 28, 2002, 4:00 PM MDT for Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico; 19 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 28, 2002, 4:00 PM MDT (22:00 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 2002, 10:00 PM MDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 21 counties

Eddy County, NM, Lea County, NM, Andrews County, TX, Crane County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Ector County, TX, Edwards County, TX, Gaines County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Loving County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Pecos County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Reeves 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), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Ector	56 min
May 28, 4:36 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Crane	39 min
May 28, 5:13 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	47 min
May 28, 5:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Pecos	61 min

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 38 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: 2056 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -174 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 696 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 282147
SEL3  
SPC WW 282144
NMZ000-TXZ000-290400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 353
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
444 PM CDT TUE MAY 28 2002

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

   FAR SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO                         
   SOUTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 500 PM UNTIL 1100
PM 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 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF HOBBS NEW MEXICO TO 55 MILES
EAST SOUTHEAST OF SANDERSON 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...  CONTINUE...WW 352...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE STORMS WILL CONTINUE DEVELOPING AND MOVING
SLOWLY SSEWD THROUGH THE EVENING ACROSS SWRN TX AND FAR SERN NM. 
EXTREME INSTABILITY WILL SUPPORT VERY STRONG UPDRAFTS...ENHANCED BY
LIKELIHOOD OF MID LEVEL ROTATION UNDER 20-25 KT OF NWLY MID LEVEL
FLOW.  NUMEROUS SURFACE BOUNDARIES WILL ENHANCE THE POTENTIAL FOR
A FEW TORNADOES AS WELL.


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 20015.


...EVANS

325,1020 294,1000 294,1025 325,1045

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 6:30 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Armstrong, Briscoe, Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle, Crosby and 13 more	5 hr
May 27, 6:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Borden, Brown and 36 more	4 hr
May 27, 10:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Blanco, Burleson, Burnet and 16 more	6 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.