Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 484

June 16, 20047 counties in New Mexico; Cimarron County, Oklahoma; 21 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 16, 2004, 2:00 PM MDT for 7 counties in New Mexico; Cimarron County, Oklahoma; 21 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 16, 2004, 2:00 PM MDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 16, 2004, 8:00 PM MDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 29 counties

Colfax County, NM, Guadalupe County, NM, Harding County, NM, Mora County, NM, Quay County, NM, San Miguel County, NM, Union County, NM, Cimarron County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Carson County, TX, Childress 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, Lipscomb 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 Amarillo radar (KAMA), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:04 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 16, 3:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQColfax, Union30 min
Jun 16, 4:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQGuadalupe47 min
Jun 16, 4:54 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMACimarron81 min
Jun 16, 5:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADallam57 min
Jun 16, 6:08 PM MDTTornado WarningAMACimarron52 min
Jun 16, 6:41 PM MDTTornado WarningAMADallam64 min
Jun 16, 6:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQQuay62 min
Jun 16, 6:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADeaf Smith56 min
Jun 16, 6:51 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMASherman84 min
Jun 16, 6:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQUnion68 min
Jun 16, 7:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHartley85 min
Jun 16, 7:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADallam26 min
Jun 16, 7:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMARandall55 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, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 137 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 2004-06-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1446 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 2004-06-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 103 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1446 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-283 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1386 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 161958
SEL4  
SPC WW 162000
NMZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-170200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 484
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
300 PM CDT WED JUN 16 2004

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

       NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO
       OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE
       TEXAS PANHANDLE

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 300 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF RATON NEW MEXICO
TO 105 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF AMARILLO 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 482...WW 483...

DISCUSSION...VERY UNSTABLE SELY UPSLOPE WILL SUPPORT SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER HIGHER TERRAIN NERN NM. STORMS WILL
THEN MOVE/PROPAGATE E/SE AND WITH VEERING SHEAR PROFILES SUPERCELLS
ARE EXPECTED.  IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS....ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE LIKELY.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27025.


...HALES

365,1045 365,0995 344,0995 344,1045

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 16, 12:12 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCUnion3 hr
Jun 16, 1:05 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChaves, Curry, De Baca, Eddy, Guadalupe, Lea and 2 more2 hr
Jun 16, 5:51 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCurry, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt2 hr
Jun 15, 6:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBeaver, Texas5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2004Tornado Watches in New Mexico, 2004Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2004Every 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.