Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 269

May 6, 200851 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2008, 6:19 PM CDT for 51 counties in Texas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 6, 2008, 6:19 PM CDT (23:19 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 2008, 9:53 PM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 51 counties

Armstrong County, TX, Borden County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Childress County, TX, Coke County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Concho County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Garza County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Howard County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Irion County, TX, Jones County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Mitchell County, TX, Moore County, TX, Motley County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Runnels County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Sterling County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Tom Green County, TX, Wheeler County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:19 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
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 6:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLynn35 min
May 6, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCrosby, Lubbock36 min
May 6, 6:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHockley, Lubbock48 min
May 6, 6:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCrosby, Dickens43 min
May 6, 6:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCastro, Hale, Lamb, Swisher54 min
May 6, 7:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBFloyd, Hale51 min
May 6, 7:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHale, Lubbock31 min
May 6, 7:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHockley, Lubbock21 min
May 6, 7:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCrosby, Dickens26 min
May 6, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHale, Swisher53 min
May 6, 7:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCrosby, Dickens, Garza, Kent59 min
May 6, 7:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCastro, Hale, Lamb10 min
May 6, 8:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCastro, Hale, Lamb, Swisher29 min
May 6, 8:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBriscoe, Floyd, Hale, Motley, Swisher18 min
May 6, 8:17 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLUBDickens58 min
May 6, 8:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBDickens, King53 min
May 6, 8:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBriscoe, Floyd, Hall, Swisher59 min
May 6, 9:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBKing45 min
May 6, 9:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBHall33 min
May 6, 9:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBDickens, Kent, King, Stonewall42 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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 241 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1418 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 221 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
1418 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
655 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
221 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
324 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.2
Supercell composite
9.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 7:59 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBailey, Castro, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Hartley, Moore and 5 more61 min
May 5, 8:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArmstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress and 33 more5 hr
May 5, 10:56 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Borden, Briscoe, Carson and 36 more64 min
May 6, 1:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Cochran, Crane, Ector, Gaines, Loving and 9 more3 hr
May 6, 3:26 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAndrews, Bailey, Castro, Cochran, Crane, Dawson and 15 more7 hr
May 6, 6:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Crane, Crockett and 27 more89 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008

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.