Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 90

April 19, 2004Beaver County, Cimarron County, Texas County, Oklahoma; 33 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 19, 2004, 3:00 PM CDT for Beaver County, Cimarron County, Texas County, Oklahoma; 33 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 19, 2004, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired
Apr 19, 2004, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 36 counties

Beaver County, OK, Cimarron County, OK, Texas County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Castro County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Garza County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Moore County, TX, Motley County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Terry County, TX, Yoakum County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:05 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 19, 3:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAArmstrong, Carson56 min
Apr 19, 4:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBYoakum58 min
Apr 19, 5:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBYoakum45 min
Apr 19, 5:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHutchinson48 min
Apr 19, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBTerry59 min
Apr 19, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBailey31 min
Apr 19, 6:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMABeaver59 min
Apr 19, 6:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHansford52 min
Apr 19, 6:26 PM CDTTornado WarningLUBTerry34 min
Apr 19, 6:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHutchinson46 min
Apr 19, 6:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLynn59 min
Apr 19, 6:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMACarson35 min
Apr 19, 7:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAGray33 min
Apr 19, 7:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAOchiltree51 min
Apr 19, 8:46 PM CDTTornado WarningAMAOchiltree44 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 94 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 2004-04-19Temperature 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 12:00Z on 2004-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -42 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
2899 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
83 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 192003
SEL0  
SPC WW 192000
OKZ000-TXZ000-200200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 90
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
300 PM CDT MON APR 19 2004

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

       OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE
       WEST TEXAS AND THE PANHANDLE

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

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 85 MILES NORTHEAST OF DALHART TEXAS TO 60 MILES
SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF LUBBOCK 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...AIRMASS OVER THE TX PANHANDLE IS RAPIDLY DESTABILIZING
THIS AFTERNOON AS SURFACE BOUNDARY LIFTS NORTHWARD AND STRONG
HEATING OCCURS.  WEAKENING CAP AND LOW LEVEL WARM ADVECTION IS
EXPECTED TO RESULT IN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IN
THE NEXT 2-3 HOURS.  SUPERCELLS ARE LIKELY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR
LARGE HAIL.  TORNADO THREAT APPEARS GREATEST IN VICINITY OF THE
RETREATING SURFACE BOUNDARY ACROSS THE TX PANHANDLE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24030.


...HART

365,1001 325,1010 325,1032 365,1024

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 19, 5:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Cimarron, Texas117 min
Apr 19, 2:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Borden, Briscoe, Carson and 27 more118 min
Apr 19, 4:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAndrews, Borden, Crane, Crockett, Dawson, Ector and 11 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 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.