Alert archive / New Mexico / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 918
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 11, 2008, 7:02 PM MDT for 10 counties in New Mexico; Cimarron County, Oklahoma; 7 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 11, 2008, 7:02 PM MDT (01:02 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 12, 2008, 1:00 AM MDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Chaves County, NM, Curry County, NM, De Baca County, NM, Guadalupe County, NM, Harding County, NM, Mora County, NM, Quay County, NM, Roosevelt County, NM, San Miguel County, NM, Union County, NM, Cimarron County, OK, Bailey County, TX, Castro County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX
The radar
The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:05 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 11, 7:05 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ABQ | Colfax, Harding, Mora, San Miguel | 55 min |
| Oct 11, 8:26 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ABQ | Colfax, Union | 34 min |
| Oct 11, 8:41 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ABQ | Chaves | 48 min |
| Oct 11, 8:59 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ABQ | Colfax, Union | 46 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, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 165 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -51 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 654 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 288 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 455 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
652
WWUS20 KWNS 120104
SEL8
SPC WW 120104
NMZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-120700-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 918
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
655 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EASTERN NEW MEXICO
FAR WESTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE
WEST CENTRAL AND WESTERN PARTS OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 655 PM
UNTIL 100 AM MDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 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 95 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
DALHART TEXAS TO 80 MILES NORTHWEST OF ROSWELL NEW MEXICO. 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 916...WW 917...
DISCUSSION...SCTD TSTMS/SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO PERSIST ALONG SSW-NNE
CONFLUENCE ZONE IN E CNTRL/SE NM. OTHER STORMS EXPECTED TO PERSIST
ALONG SIMILAR CONFLUENCE BAND IN MORE DEEPLY-MIXED ENVIRONMENT IN N
CNTRL/ NE NM. STRENGTH OF EXISTING WIND FIELD...LIKELIHOOD FOR SOME
BACKING/STRENGTHENING OF NEAR-SFC FLOW...AND MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER
OVER ERN NM SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR ISOLD BUT POSSIBLY STRONG
TORNADOES OVER THAT PART OF THE STATE AND IN ADJACENT PARTS OF TX.
HAIL/LOCALLY DMGG WIND WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE WITH STORMS IN THE N
CNTRL/NE NM.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22040.
...CORFIDISPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 11, 6:46 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bernalillo, Chaves, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Doña Ana and 19 more | 89 min |
| Oct 11, 10:51 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Lincoln and 5 more | 84 min |
| Oct 12, 12:44 AM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Eddy, Guadalupe, Harding and 4 more | 61 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in New Mexico, 2008Tornado Watches in Texas, 2008Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 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.