Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 380

May 15, 20034 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 15, 2003, 12:55 PM MDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2003, 12:55 PM MDT (18:55 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 2003, 7:00 PM MDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 39 counties

Baca County, CO, Bent County, CO, Crowley County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Otero County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Grant County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Morton County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Beaver County, OK, Cimarron County, OK, Texas County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Carson County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Donley County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Moore County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Wheeler County, TX

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 176 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:58 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 1:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley57 min
May 15, 2:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBaca67 min
May 15, 2:38 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDWichita52 min
May 15, 2:51 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMACimarron54 min
May 15, 2:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBent, Kiowa62 min
May 15, 3:19 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron41 min
May 15, 3:29 PM MDTTornado WarningAMADallam, Hartley46 min
May 15, 3:30 PM MDTTornado WarningPUBBaca60 min
May 15, 3:54 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBKiowa, Prowers66 min
May 15, 3:54 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron, Texas51 min
May 15, 4:13 PM MDTTornado WarningPUBKiowa62 min
May 15, 4:13 PM MDTTornado WarningAMADallam62 min
May 15, 4:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBaca62 min
May 15, 4:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley, Wallace66 min
May 15, 4:45 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron60 min
May 15, 4:56 PM MDTTornado WarningAMASherman64 min
May 15, 5:11 PM MDTTornado WarningAMATexas64 min
May 15, 5:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCStevens39 min
May 15, 5:55 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron65 min
May 15, 5:59 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCSeward, Stevens46 min
May 15, 6:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCKearny45 min
May 15, 6:14 PM MDTTornado WarningAMATexas61 min
May 15, 6:24 PM MDTTornado WarningAMAMoore, Sherman66 min
May 15, 6:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBaca62 min
May 15, 6:32 PM MDTTornado WarningDDCHaskell, Seward28 min
May 15, 6:46 PM MDTTornado WarningAMADonley29 min
May 15, 6:48 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACarson, Hutchinson57 min
May 15, 6:51 PM MDTTornado WarningAMAArmstrong54 min
May 15, 7:00 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron60 min

Discussions around it

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

The nearest sounding before it

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 200 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2003-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 95 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2003-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 88 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 12:31 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaca, Las Animas119 min
May 15, 2:41 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaca, Bent, Las Animas, Otero, Prowers94 min
May 15, 3:00 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln and 1 more5 hr
May 15, 5:50 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBaca5 hr
May 15, 5:47 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Comanche58 min
May 14, 6:36 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Choctaw, McCurtain, Pushmataha114 min
May 15, 5:25 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCJackson, Tillman6 hr
May 14, 8:20 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCass, Harrison, Marion115 min
May 14, 10:20 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBell, Bosque, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Freestone and 5 more115 min
May 14, 10:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCamp, Cass, Cherokee, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison and 8 more5 hr
May 14, 10:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAnderson, Bosque, Collin, Dallas, Delta, Denton and 16 more5 hr
May 15, 1:10 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Henderson and 13 more2 hr
May 15, 1:27 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGregg, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rusk, Shelby2 hr
May 15, 3:05 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBorden, Briscoe, Castro, Childress, Cottle, Crosby and 20 more6 hr
May 15, 4:15 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFrio, Kinney, Maverick, Uvalde, Zavala2 hr
May 15, 4:49 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaylor, Coke, Cottle, Fisher, Foard, Hardeman and 17 more116 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2003Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2003Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.