Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012
Mesoscale Discussion 479
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Apr 9, 2012, 3:06 PM CDT for 7 counties in Oklahoma; 37 counties in Texas. It was in force for 54 min.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 9, 2012, 3:06 PM CDT (20:06 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 9, 2012, 4:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 54 min
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 44 counties
Beckham County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Washita County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Borden County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Castro County, TX, Childress County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Garza County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Motley County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Terry County, TX, Wheeler County, TX, Yoakum County, TX
The radar
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:06 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
Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 108 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
- 505 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -170 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1025 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 58 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 100 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
585
ACUS11 KWNS 092007
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 092006
OKZ000-TXZ000-NMZ000-092100-
MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0479
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0306 PM CDT MON APR 09 2012
AREAS AFFECTED...TX PANHANDLE...SWRN TX...ERN NM
CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY
VALID 092006Z - 092100Z
THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF LARGE HAIL AND DMGG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO
INCREASE IN COVERAGE THIS AFTERNOON. SEVERAL AREAS OF INITIATION ARE
POSSIBLE...WITH STORMS GRADUALLY PROGRESSING EWD/SEWD WITH TIME.
SEVERAL AREAS OF INCREASING CU AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ARE
OCCURRING THIS AFTERNOON...IN RESPONSE TO WEAK LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE
WINDS FARTHER W...AND IN ASSOCIATION WITH SURFACE
CONFLUENCE...NOTABLE ACROSS FAR WRN TX...WITH AN ADDITIONAL BOUNDARY
EXTENDING FROM E CNTRL NM INTO THE TX PANHANDLE. A DISTINCT VORT MAX
IS IMPLIED ON WV IMAGERY AS OF 1945Z OVER ERN NM/WRN TX...LIKELY
CONTRIBUTING TO FORCING FOR ASCENT. ACROSS NM...ALTHOUGH AMPLE
SURFACE HEATING HAS OCCURRED...A DOWNSLOPE COMPONENT TO LOW-MID
LEVEL WINDS IN COMBINATION WITH MIXING HAS LOWERED DEW POINTS ACROSS
THE AREA...LEADING TO ONLY A MARGINALLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS.
NONETHELESS...STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES MAY ASSIST IN THE
OCCASIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF A STRONG TO SEVERE STORM. FARTHER E ACROSS
THE TX PANHANDLE AND SWD...A MORE UNSTABLE AIR MASS EXISTS...AND
ALTHOUGH MIXING HAS LOWERED DEW POINTS A FEW DEGREES...ADDITIONAL
MOISTENING MAY OCCUR LATER THIS AFTERNOON AS SURFACE WINDS BEGIN TO
BACK TO SELY...FURTHER CONTRIBUTING TO MODERATE INSTABILITY. NEARLY
ALL DETERMINISTIC MODELS INDICATE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE
ALONG VARIOUS SURFACE FEATURES AS REMAINING CONVECTIVE INHIBITION
ERODES...WITH ONGOING CONVECTION ALSO PROGRESSING INTO GREATER
INSTABILITY FARTHER EWD. THE MOST LIKELY CORRIDOR FOR MORE
SIGNIFICANT SEVERE POTENTIAL REMAINS OVER THE TX PANHANDLE INTO WRN
OK...WHERE MODEST NWLY FLOW WILL LEAD TO THE POTENTIAL FOR SPLITTING
SUPERCELLS.
..HURLBUT.. 04/09/2012
...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...
ATTN...WFO...OUN...LUB...AMA...MAF...ABQ...
LAT...LON 35890117 35709907 35269860 34709870 33749968 33010075
32670160 32770233 33540345 34660327 35590211 35890117SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 1:54 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alfalfa, Beaver, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Ellis and 7 more | 96 min |
| Apr 9, 2:28 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alfalfa, Blaine, Dewey, Ellis, Harper, Major and 2 more | 5 hr |
| Apr 9, 3:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Beckham, Caddo, Comanche, Custer, Greer, Harmon and 5 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 9, 5:37 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beckham, Custer, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 2 more | 83 min |
| Apr 9, 6:27 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Custer and 11 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 9, 5:03 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Crane, Dawson, Ector, Gaines, Jeff Davis and 9 more | 87 min |
| Apr 9, 5:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Andrews, Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, Dawson and 18 more | 7 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in Texas, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 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.