Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 200

May 13, 200420 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 13, 2004, 12:55 PM CDT for 20 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 13, 2004, 12:55 PM CDT (17:55 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2004, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Brown County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Concho County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Jones County, TX, Kimble County, TX, Mason County, TX, McCulloch County, TX, Menard County, TX, Runnels County, TX, Schleicher County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Sutton County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Tom Green County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:54 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 1:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Haskell	53 min
May 13, 1:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Jones	64 min
May 13, 1:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	McCulloch	53 min
May 13, 1:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Kimble, Mason	56 min
May 13, 1:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Coleman, Runnels	63 min
May 13, 2:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Jones	60 min
May 13, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Menard	63 min
May 13, 2:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Throckmorton	62 min
May 13, 2:15 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SJT	Haskell	4 hr
May 13, 2:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Concho, McCulloch	58 min
May 13, 2:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Haskell	56 min
May 13, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Mason	60 min
May 13, 2:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Jones	53 min
May 13, 3:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Coleman, Runnels	58 min
May 13, 3:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Taylor	65 min
May 13, 3:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Throckmorton	64 min
May 13, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Concho, McCulloch	59 min
May 13, 3:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Menard, Shackelford	56 min
May 13, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Young	63 min
May 13, 3:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Concho, Runnels	42 min
May 13, 3:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Taylor	66 min
May 13, 3:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Shackelford, Throckmorton	62 min
May 13, 3:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SJT	Coleman, Concho, McCulloch, Mason, Menard, Runnels	6 hr
May 13, 3:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Jones	59 min
May 13, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Mason	64 min
May 13, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Coleman	58 min
May 13, 4:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Mason, Menard	63 min
May 13, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Throckmorton	44 min
May 13, 4:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SJT	Taylor	110 min
May 13, 4:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Stephens, Young	61 min
May 13, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan	55 min
May 13, 4:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Taylor	66 min
May 13, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Shackelford	59 min
May 13, 4:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Runnels	66 min
May 13, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Mason	64 min
May 13, 5:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan	65 min
May 13, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Eastland	61 min
May 13, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Stephens	37 min
May 13, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Taylor	46 min
May 13, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	McCulloch, Menard	59 min
May 13, 6:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Mason	55 min
May 13, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Brown, Coleman	45 min
May 13, 6:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Mason	33 min
May 13, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Menard	62 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, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 218 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: 2743 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -154 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1092 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

399 
WWUS20 KWNS 131756
SEL0  
SPC WW 131755
TXZ000-140000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 200
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1255 PM CDT THU MAY 13 2004

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

       WEST CENTRAL TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1255 PM UNTIL
700 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF ABILENE TEXAS TO 25
MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF JUNCTION 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 197. WATCH NUMBER 197 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER
1255 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 198...WW 199...

DISCUSSION...VERY TO EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS TO E OF N/S DRY
LINE WCENTRAL TX.  LITTLE CAP REMAINS...THUS RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.  DEEP LAYER
SHEAR SUFFICIENT GIVEN THE MUCAPES IN EXCESS OF 4000 J/KG FOR
ISOLATED TORNADIC SUPERCELLS...IN ADDITION TO VERY LARGE HAIL.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26020.


...HALES

332,0981 302,0991 302,1010 332,1000

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 8:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Callahan, Fisher, Foard, Hardeman and 13 more	86 min
May 13, 3:52 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anderson, Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson and 27 more	83 min
May 13, 8:30 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell and 17 more	6 hr
May 13, 9:54 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell and 17 more	96 min
May 13, 10:20 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cottle, Dickens, Foard and 10 more	115 min
May 13, 10:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Foard, Hardeman, Knox and 2 more	6 hr
May 13, 12:10 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fayette and 22 more	6 hr
May 13, 12:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bandera, Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho and 26 more	2 hr
May 13, 12:48 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Foard, Haskell, Knox and 4 more	117 min
May 13, 1:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fayette, Fort Bend and 15 more	97 min
May 13, 2:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Caldwell, Comal and 21 more	6 hr
May 13, 2:48 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Clay, Haskell, Wichita	87 min
May 13, 2:57 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Concho, Eastland, Haskell and 14 more	2 hr
May 13, 3:34 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bexar, Caldwell, Comal and 21 more	86 min
May 13, 5:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend and 17 more	53 min
May 13, 5:54 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Concho, Eastland, Haskell and 14 more	96 min
May 13, 6:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Edwards, Gillespie, Kerr, Kimble, Mason and 6 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2004 Every tornado watch 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.