Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 92

April 5, 2003Jackson County, Oklahoma; 28 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 5, 2003, 1:50 PM CST for Jackson County, Oklahoma; 28 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 5, 2003, 1:50 PM CST (19:50 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 2003, 7:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 29 counties

Jackson County, OK, Baylor County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Childress County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Garza County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Jones County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Mitchell County, TX, Motley County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 1:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard, Hardeman	37 min
Apr 5, 2:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MAF	Scurry	20 min
Apr 5, 2:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	SJT	Fisher	50 min
Apr 5, 2:29 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LUB	Kent	46 min
Apr 5, 2:42 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LUB	Stonewall	63 min
Apr 5, 3:28 PM CST	Tornado Warning	SJT	Haskell, Jones	62 min
Apr 5, 4:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	SJT	Haskell, Throckmorton	56 min
Apr 5, 4:42 PM CST	Tornado Warning	SJT	Shackelford	48 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 198 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 4087 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 051947
SEL2
SPC WW 051950
TXZ000-060100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 92
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
150 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

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

   NORTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 150 PM UNTIL 700
PM CST.

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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ABILENE TEXAS TO 15 MILES
NORTH OF CHILDRESS 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.

DISCUSSION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE SLOWLY INCREASING ACROSS
PARTS OF NORTHWEST TX.  LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS INCREASING IN THIS
REGION...WITH SBCAPE VALUES EXPECTED TO BE 1000-1500 J/KG BY LATE
AFTERNOON.  STEEP LAPSE RATES...COOL MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES...AND
SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY WILL PROMOTE LARGE HAIL POTENTIAL IN
STRONGEST STORMS.  FAVORABLE VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILES WILL ALSO AID
IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELLS...WITH A THREAT OF TORNADOES
MAINLY OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE WATCH AND AFTER 23Z.

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 24030.

...HART

315,1012 343,1012 343,0990 315,0991

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 12:21 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jackson	3 hr
Apr 5, 3:48 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Comanche, Cotton, Harmon, Jackson, Jefferson, Kiowa and 1 more	117 min
Apr 5, 4:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Archer, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta and 22 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2003 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 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.