Alert archive / New Mexico / Mesoscale Discussions in 2004

Mesoscale Discussion 252

April 2, 20044 counties in New Mexico; Culberson County, Loving County, Reeves County, Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Apr 2, 2004, 12:08 PM MST for 4 counties in New Mexico; Culberson County, Loving County, Reeves County, Texas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 2, 2004, 12:08 PM MST (19:08 UTC)
Expired: Apr 2, 2004, 2:45 PM MST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Chaves County, NM, Eddy County, NM, Lea County, NM, Otero County, NM, Culberson County, TX, Loving County, TX, Reeves County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 201 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:08 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 nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 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-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: 73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -137 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1213 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -33 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.

144 
ACUS11 KWNS 021908
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 021908 
TXZ000-NMZ000-022145-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0252
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0108 PM CST FRI APR 02 2004

AREAS AFFECTED...SERN NM INTO FAR SW TX

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL 

VALID 021908Z - 022145Z

ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN
INTENSITY THIS AFTERNOON. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

SURFACE DEWPOINTS HAVE MIXED DOWN INTO THE UPPER 40S ALONG MOIST
AXIS THAT EXTENDS NWWD THROUGH SW TX AND INTO SERN NM. HOWEVER...
STRONG SURFACE HEATING AND STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES CONTINUE TO
DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE IN THIS REGION. MOREOVER...A MID LEVEL
THERMAL TROUGH AHEAD OF AN AXIS OF VORTICITY WILL LIFT NEWD THROUGH
THIS AREA WITH MLCAPE FROM 800 TO 1200 J/KG EXPECTED BY MID
AFTERNOON. OROGRAPHIC FORCING IN THE PRESENCE OF LARGE SCALE ASCENT
ACCOMPANYING THE NWD MOVING SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO
PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH BASED STORMS AS THE ATMOSPHERE
DESTABILIZES. GIVEN THE RELATIVELY DRY INVERTED-V BOUNDARY LAYERS
EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN THIS AREA...THREAT FOR ISOLATED STRONG WIND
GUSTS WILL EXIST WITH THE STRONGER STORMS. THOUGH HAIL SIZE WILL
LIKELY BE LIMITED BY MARGINAL INSTABILITY...STEEP LAPSE RATES AND
COOLING MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES SUGGESTS SOME HAIL MAY ACCOMPANY THE
STRONGER ACTIVITY.

..DIAL.. 04/02/2004

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...MAF...ABQ...EPZ...

30550330 31640536 32640653 33910443 32710299

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 1, 5:52 PM MST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Edwards, Kimble, Kinney, Menard, Real, Schleicher and 3 more	83 min
Apr 2, 9:59 AM MST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Crockett, Edwards, Kinney, Maverick, Reagan, Real and 5 more	2 hr
Apr 2, 11:34 AM MST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Howard, Irion, Sterling, Tom Green	86 min
Apr 2, 12:51 PM MST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dimmit, Edwards, Kinney, Maverick, Real, Sutton and 2 more	114 min
Apr 2, 1:25 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Concho, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, Frio and 19 more	6 hr
Apr 2, 4:10 PM MST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brooks, Cameron, Dimmit, Duval, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg and 8 more	95 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in New Mexico, 2004 Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2004 Every mesoscale discussion in 2004

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.