Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 91

April 19, 2004Lea County, New Mexico; 17 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 19, 2004, 3:45 PM MDT for Lea County, New Mexico; 17 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 19, 2004, 3:45 PM MDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 19, 2004, 9:00 PM MDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Lea County, NM, Andrews County, TX, Borden County, TX, Crane County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Ector County, TX, Gaines County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Howard County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Pecos County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Terrell County, TX, Upton County, TX, Ward County, TX, Winkler County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:46 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 19, 4:34 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Lea	41 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, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 31 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: 420 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -285 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1364 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 192143
SEL1  
SPC WW 192145
NMZ000-TXZ000-200300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 91
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
445 PM CDT MON APR 19 2004

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

       SOUTHEAST CORNER OF NEW MEXICO
       SOUTHWEST TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 445 PM UNTIL 1000
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 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF HOBBS NEW MEXICO TO 10
MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF SANDERSON 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 90...

DISCUSSION...WELL DEFINED DRY LINE FROM LEA COUNTY NM SWD TO
BREWSTER COUNTY TX WILL MOVE LITTLE THIS EVENING. VERY UNSTABLE
AIRMASS WITH MUCAPES TO 3000 J/KG AND A VEERING SHEAR PROFILE QUITE
FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT.  PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE LARGE
HAIL BUT ISOLATED TORNADOS ARE LIKELY IN MOST INTENSE SUPERCELL
DEVELOPMENT.  STORMS SHOULD SLOWLY MOVE EWD OFF DRY LINE DURING
EVENING.

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
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25025.


...HALES

325,1011 295,1011 295,1032 325,1033

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 19, 1:02 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Lea, Roosevelt	118 min
Apr 19, 4:18 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Lea	117 min
Apr 19, 2:00 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Cochran and 27 more	6 hr

Nearby

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