Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2007

Tornado Watch 238

May 5, 2007Comanche County, Jackson County, Tillman County, Oklahoma; 28 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2007, 7:48 PM CDT for Comanche County, Jackson County, Tillman County, Oklahoma; 28 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 5, 2007, 7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 2007, 3:00 AM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 31 counties

Comanche County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Andrews County, TX, Borden County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Childress County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Ector County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Garza County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Howard County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Mitchell County, TX, Motley County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:50 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 8:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFDawson36 min
May 5, 9:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLynn48 min
May 5, 10:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBriscoe, Floyd, Hale, Swisher51 min
May 5, 11:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBriscoe, Swisher43 min
May 6, 12:16 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBriscoe29 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 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 193 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 00:00Z on 2007-05-06Temperature 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 00:00Z on 2007-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 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
3236 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
157 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 060052
SEL8  
SPC WW 060052
OKZ000-TXZ000-060800-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 238
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
750 PM CDT SAT MAY 5 2007

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

       SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA
       WESTERN AND NORTHWEST TEXAS

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 750 PM
UNTIL 300 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 55 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF
CHILDRESS TEXAS TO 20 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF MIDLAND TEXAS.  FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

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 232...WW 234...WW
235...WW 236...WW 237...

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED STORMS APPEAR TO BE FORMING INVOF ERN-MOST DRY
LINE IN W TX.  AREA SFC DATA SHOW VERY RICH MOISTURE IN PLACE E OF
LINE WITH SUBSTANTIAL SELY COMPONENT.  COUPLED WITH EXISTING 40-50
KT DEEP WSWLY SHEAR...NOCTURNAL STRENGTHENING OF LLJ...AND A
POSSIBLE INCREASE IN LARGE SCALE ASCENT AHEAD OF SLOWLY PROGRESSIVE
AZ TROUGH...SETUP MAY SUPPORT A FEW SUPERCELLS WITH VERY LARGE HAIL
AND TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22030.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 7:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCTillman56 min
May 5, 9:58 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Custer, Dewey and 12 more7 hr
May 5, 11:24 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Ellis, Harper, Roger Mills, Woods, Woodward66 min
May 6, 3:37 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Ellis and 9 more53 min
May 6, 7:50 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Custer, Dewey, Greer, Harmon and 4 more85 min
May 6, 9:19 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland and 37 more5 hr
May 6, 11:41 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cherokee and 43 more94 min
May 6, 1:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Ellis, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson and 3 more58 min
May 6, 1:59 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian and 36 more8 hr
May 6, 2:36 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBrown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett and 23 more7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2007Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2007Every tornado watch in 2007

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.