Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 274

May 7, 200815 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 7, 2008, 3:42 PM CDT for 15 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 7, 2008, 3:42 PM CDT (20:42 UTC)
Expired
May 7, 2008, 9:21 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Anderson County, TX, Bell County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Falls County, TX, Freestone County, TX, Henderson County, TX, Hill County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Leon County, TX, Limestone County, TX, McLennan County, TX, Milam County, TX, Navarro County, TX, Robertson County, TX, Van Zandt County, TX

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:44 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
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 7, 4:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMcLennan46 min
May 7, 4:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLimestone66 min
May 7, 5:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFreestone62 min
May 7, 6:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLeon, Limestone58 min
May 7, 6:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDAnderson51 min
May 7, 7:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFalls60 min
May 7, 7:41 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDFalls, Robertson49 min
May 7, 8:05 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDRobertson40 min
May 7, 8:40 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDLeon, Robertson50 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 157 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 72 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2008-05-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 196 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
72 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-374 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
398 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 8:50 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor, Borden, Briscoe and 84 more85 min
May 6, 9:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAndrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor, Borden, Briscoe and 58 more7 hr
May 6, 11:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBandera, Edwards, Gillespie, Kerr, Kinney, Maverick and 4 more85 min
May 7, 12:04 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Baylor, Borden, Briscoe and 56 more86 min
May 7, 2:47 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Briscoe, Childress, Clay, Collingsworth and 21 more58 min
May 7, 11:59 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Borden, Callahan, Cottle, Crosby and 29 more91 min
May 7, 1:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Borden, Callahan, Cottle, Crosby and 29 more88 min
May 7, 1:33 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClay, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton and 13 more6 hr
May 7, 3:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bastrop, Bell, Bosque, Collin, Cooke and 35 more2 hr
May 7, 4:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAngelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Gregg and 14 more88 min
May 7, 5:28 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAngelina, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Franklin and 18 more8 hr
May 7, 6:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Brazos, Delta, Fannin, Freestone, Grayson and 12 more55 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.