Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 247

May 5, 200926 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 5, 2009, 5:46 PM CDT for 26 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 5, 2009, 5:46 PM CDT (22:46 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 2009, 12:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 26 counties

Bosque County, TX, Brown County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Coke County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Erath County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Hood County, TX, Jack County, TX, Jones County, TX, Mills County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Runnels County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 19 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:49 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
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
90%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
70%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 7:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDPalo Pinto, Stephens54 min
May 5, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDEastland, Erath, Palo Pinto, Stephens62 min
May 5, 10:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJack, Parker, Tarrant, Wise56 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 196 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 2009-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 164 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 2009-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 170 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
164 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-169 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
170 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
268 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
8.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 6:40 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Collingsworth, Foard and 12 more2 hr
May 5, 12:21 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDelta, Fannin, Franklin, Grayson, Hopkins, Lamar and 2 more84 min
May 5, 1:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Fannin, Franklin and 13 more4 hr
May 5, 3:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCallahan, Coleman, Eastland, Jones, Nolan, Palo Pinto and 6 more54 min
May 5, 3:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBowie, Cass, Red River97 min
May 5, 5:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBosque, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland and 14 more62 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2009Every tornado watch in 2009

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.