Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 307

May 8, 200324 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 8, 2003, 3:40 PM CDT for 24 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2003, 3:40 PM CDT (20:40 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 24 counties

Archer County, TX, Brown County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Clay County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Denton County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Erath County, TX, Grayson County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hood County, TX, Jack County, TX, Montague County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Runnels County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 1954 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -157 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 618 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 291 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 444 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 8.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 082039
SEL7  
SPC WW 082040
TXZ000-090200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 307 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
340 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2003

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

       NORTHWEST INTO NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 340 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH OF FORT WORTH TEXAS TO 20 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF BROWNWOOD 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 300...WW 301...WW 302...WW
303...WW 304...WW 305...WW 306...


DISCUSSION...VERY UNSTABLE CONDITIONS CONTINUE EAST OF DRY LINE
ARCING FROM NEAR SPS TO JUST EAST OF ABI AT 20Z.  AS TEMPERATURES
APPROACH THE LOWER 90S EAST OF THE DRY LINE...CAP IS EXPECTED TO BE
OVERCOME AND SUPPORT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.  ACTIVITY SHOULD QUICKLY
EVOLVE INTO SUPERCELLS AND SHIFT ENEWD INTO NORTH CENTRAL TX THROUGH
THE EVENING.  PARAMETERS REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES WITH ANY
SUSTAINED SUPERCELLS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25030.


...EVANS

335,0960 313,0980 313,1002 335,0983

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 8:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Armstrong, Baylor, Bosque, Briscoe, Callahan and 59 more	59 min
May 7, 8:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Erath, Freestone, Hamilton and 7 more	6 hr
May 7, 10:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Cooke, Fannin, Foard, Grayson, Hardeman and 3 more	5 hr
May 7, 11:51 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cooke, Fannin, Foard, Grayson, Hardeman and 3 more	54 min
May 8, 1:57 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cooke, Fannin, Grayson, Montague	2 hr
May 8, 1:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Wichita	7 hr
May 8, 2:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Bosque, Brown, Burnet, Callahan, Clay and 28 more	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003 Every tornado watch 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.