Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 2039

October 12, 20125 counties in New Mexico; 30 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Oct 12, 2012, 4:50 PM MDT for 5 counties in New Mexico; 30 counties in Texas. It was in force for 85 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Oct 12, 2012, 4:50 PM MDT (22:50 UTC)
Expired
Oct 12, 2012, 6:15 PM MDT
In force
85 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
60%
All 35 counties

Curry County, NM, Eddy County, NM, Lea County, NM, Quay County, NM, Roosevelt County, NM, Andrews County, TX, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Castro County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Ector County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Gaines County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Loving County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Martin County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Reeves County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Terry County, TX, Ward County, TX, Winkler County, TX, Yoakum County, TX

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 110 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.

The watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 164 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 2012-10-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1935 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 2012-10-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 196 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
1935 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
708 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
2.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

726 
ACUS11 KWNS 122250
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 122250 
TXZ000-NMZ000-130015-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2039
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0550 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...EASTERN NM/WEST TX

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 122250Z - 130015Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...60 PERCENT

SUMMARY...SEVERE TSTM POTENTIAL IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE THROUGH
EARLY/MID EVENING ACROSS SOUTHEAST/EAST-CENTRAL NM INTO WEST TX.
LARGE HAIL IS THE PRIMARY HAZARD...BUT DAMAGING WINDS AND A TORNADO
OR TWO MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY/MID EVENING. CLOSELY
MONITORING FOR A WATCH...WHICH COULD BE NEEDED WITHIN THE HOUR.

DISCUSSION...WELL DOWNSTREAM OF A POTENT CLOSED LOW NEAR THE LOWER
CO RIVER VALLEY...THE LEADING /EASTERN/ EDGE OF LARGE SCALE HEIGHT
FALLS/IMPLIED FORCING FOR ASCENT APPEARS TO BE SPREADING EASTWARD
EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS. WITH A
RELATIVELY MOIST WARM SECTOR AT A WESTERN LONGITUDE /55-65 F SURFACE
DEWPOINTS IN EASTERN NM/...INCREASING FORCING FOR ASCENT SHOULD LEAD
TO AN INCREASING NUMBER OF TSTMS THIS EVENING. SUCH DEVELOPMENT IS
ALREADY OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTHEAST NM NEAR CARLSBAD AS OF
2230Z...AND MORE RECENTLY NEAR THE LUBBOCK/PLAINVIEW TX AREAS. IN
ALL...IT IS PROBABLE THAT ADDITIONAL STORMS WILL DEVELOP WITHIN THE
WARM SECTOR ACROSS SOUTHEAST/EAST-CENTRAL NM AND WEST TX ALONG AND
SOUTH OF A ROUGHLY WEST-EAST EFFECTIVE BOUNDARY THIS EVENING. 

LATEST OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS IS INDICATIVE OF MODEST INHIBITION WITH
MLCAPE ON THE ORDER OF 1500-2000 J/KG. AS DEEP LAYER WINDS/VERTICAL
SHEAR STEADILY INCREASES THIS EVENING...WIND PROFILES/INSTABILITY
WILL BE WELL-SUPPORTIVE OF SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF LARGE HAIL. WHILE
LOW-LEVEL SHEAR/SRH IS INITIALLY MODEST SOUTH OF THE
EAST-CENTRAL/NORTHEAST NM AND TX PANHANDLE EFFECTIVE BOUNDARY...MASS
RESPONSE TO THE APPROACHING UPPER SYSTEM WILL CONTRIBUTE TO A STEADY
INCREASE OF LOW-LEVEL SHEAR THIS EVENING...A TREND ALREADY NOTED PER
THE CANNON AFB NM WSR-88D VWP /200 0-1 KM SRH/. AS SUCH...A TORNADO
OR TWO WILL BE ALSO BE POSSIBLE WHERE SUPERCELLS INDEED OCCUR/REMAIN
SUSTAINED THROUGH EARLY/MID EVENING.

..GUYER/HART.. 10/12/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...LUB...AMA...MAF...ABQ...

LAT...LON   32070446 33690420 35110372 35670228 35370110 34390069
            32190185 31150277 31260372 32070446

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 12, 2:19 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChaves, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt86 min
Oct 12, 10:49 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCMcKinley, San Juan86 min
Oct 12, 12:03 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBernalillo, Los Alamos, Mora, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Miguel and 4 more87 min
Oct 12, 5:22 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCChaves, Curry, De Baca, Eddy, Lea, Quay and 1 more8 hr
Oct 12, 4:37 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChildress, Cottle, Hardeman53 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in New Mexico, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.