Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 94

April 5, 2003Jackson County, Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 5, 2003, 6:40 PM CST for Jackson County, Oklahoma; 22 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 5, 2003, 6:40 PM CST (00:40 UTC)
Expired
Apr 6, 2003, 12:00 AM CST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 23 counties

Jackson County, OK, Briscoe County, TX, Childress 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, Motley County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:39 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 5, 7:05 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNBaylor, Wilbarger40 min
Apr 5, 7:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUNWichita, Wilbarger50 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 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 215 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 00:00Z on 2003-04-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2003-04-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 129 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
373 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 060038
SEL4
SPC WW 060040
TXZ000-060600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 94
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
640 PM CST SAT APR 5 2003

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

   NORTHWEST TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 640 PM UNTIL
MIDNIGHT CST.

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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF CHILDRESS TEXAS TO 35
MILES WEST OF ABILENE 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 92...WW 93...

DISCUSSION...CONDITIONS REMAIN VERY FAVORABLE FOR ADDITIONAL
DEVELOPMENT OF TORNADIC SUPERCELLS OVER NWRN TX THRU THE EVENING. 
SELY MOIST UNSTABLE FLOW COUPLED WITH STRONG VEERING SHEAR PROFILES
SUPPORT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE
BETWEEN CDS AND ABI.


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 26035.


...HALES

344,0991 322,0991 322,1012 344,1013

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 5, 6:35 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLove115 min
Apr 5, 6:55 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland, Comanche and 14 more95 min
Apr 5, 7:10 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland and 25 more5 hr
Apr 5, 8:04 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLove116 min
Apr 5, 9:35 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCLove5 hr
Apr 5, 11:10 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Alfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Blaine, Bryan and 54 more65 min
Apr 5, 11:35 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtoka, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Carter and 51 more5 hr
Apr 6, 5:09 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian and 47 more96 min
Apr 6, 5:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtoka, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cherokee and 46 more4 hr
Apr 6, 7:45 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Canadian, Carter, Cherokee, Choctaw and 44 more2 hr
Apr 6, 9:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Choctaw and 26 more5 hr
Apr 6, 12:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Atoka, Cherokee, Choctaw, Coal, Haskell and 17 more2 hr
Apr 6, 2:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Atoka, Bryan, Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer and 5 more57 min
Apr 6, 2:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCChoctaw, LeFlore, McCurtain, Pushmataha, Sequoyah5 hr
Apr 5, 6:11 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaylor, Briscoe, Cottle, Crosby, Dickens, Floyd and 9 more64 min
Apr 5, 9:20 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Camp, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas and 31 more55 min
Apr 5, 10:26 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaylor, Childress, Cottle, Dickens, Fisher, Foard and 11 more64 min
Apr 5, 11:43 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Camp, Clay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas and 31 more92 min
Apr 6, 3:13 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Clay and 39 more107 min
Apr 6, 3:39 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Clay and 39 more66 min
Apr 6, 4:50 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman and 27 more115 min
Apr 6, 9:12 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bosque, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Collin and 41 more2 hr
Apr 6, 10:20 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBowie, Cass, Harrison, Marion, Morris, Panola55 min
Apr 6, 10:30 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCBowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Franklin, Gregg and 14 more6 hr
Apr 6, 12:03 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGregg, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rusk117 min
Apr 6, 12:40 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAnderson, Brazos, Burleson, Cherokee, Collin, Cooke and 33 more5 hr
Apr 6, 3:00 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Brazos, Cherokee, Delta, Freestone, Grimes and 21 more90 min
Apr 6, 3:26 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAngelina, Nacogdoches, Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby2 hr
Apr 6, 3:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAngelina, Gregg, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Liberty and 9 more5 hr
Apr 6, 5:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAngelina, Gregg, Hardin, Harrison, Jasper, Liberty and 10 more115 min
Apr 6, 6:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCNewton, Sabine97 min

Nearby

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