Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Amarillo, TX

May 15, 2003Dallam County, Hartley County, Texas

NWS Amarillo, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 4:29 PM CDT for Dallam County, Hartley County, Texas. It was in force for 46 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 2003, 4:29 PM CDT (21:29 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Amarillo, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Dallam County, TX, Hartley County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:32 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.

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 15, 1:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 95 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -275 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1781 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KAMA 152129
TORAMA
TXC111-205-152215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
428 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AMARILLO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DALLAM COUNTY IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS
  HARTLEY COUNTY IN THE PANHANDLE OF TEXAS

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 428 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS
  PORTION OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 28 MILES NORTHWEST OF DALHART. RADAR
  ALSO SHOWED ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO
  15 MILES WEST OF DALHART.  THE STORMS WERE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
  WARE

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME-TAKE COVER NOW ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3649 10265 3605 10243 3605 10218 3563 10216
          3564 10300 3605 10301 3606 10247 3646 10263
          3629 10281 3638 10299 3648 10291

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 3:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam	54 min
May 15, 5:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Dallam	62 min
May 15, 5:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Sherman	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

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.