Alert archive / Texas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 480

April 9, 2012Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico; 15 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Apr 9, 2012, 4:03 PM MDT for Eddy County, Lea County, New Mexico; 15 counties in Texas. It was in force for 87 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 9, 2012, 4:03 PM MDT (22:03 UTC)
Expired
Apr 9, 2012, 5:30 PM MDT
In force
87 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Eddy County, NM, Lea County, NM, Andrews County, TX, Crane County, TX, Dawson County, TX, Ector County, TX, Gaines County, TX, Jeff Davis County, TX, Loving County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Pecos County, TX, Reeves County, TX, Upton County, TX, Ward County, TX, Winkler County, TX, Yoakum County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:04 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, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 122 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 2012-04-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 62 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 2012-04-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 46 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
62 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-303 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1056 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

379 
ACUS11 KWNS 092203
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 092203 
TXZ000-NMZ000-092330-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0480
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0503 PM CDT MON APR 09 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SERN NM...WEST TX

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 092203Z - 092330Z

STRONG SUNSHINE HAS CONTRIBUTED GREATLY TO INSTABILITY ACROSS THE
SRN HIGH PLAINS.  LATEST DIAGNOSTIC DATA EXHIBITS STEEP LOW LEVEL
LAPSE RATES ACROSS THIS REGION WITH SFC-3KM VALUES ON THE ORDER OF 9
C/KM ACROSS UPSLOPE REGIONS OF W TX INTO SERN NM.  AS A
RESULT...CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF CONVECTION HAS EVOLVED OR IS
DEVELOPING ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND STORM MOTIONS WOULD SUPPORT
A SLOW SEWD MOVEMENT DURING THE EVENING HOURS.  LARGE HAIL IS THE
GREATEST SEVERE THREAT WITH THIS ACTIVITY AND A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH MAY BE REQUIRED.

..DARROW.. 04/09/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...SJT...LUB...MAF...ABQ...

LAT...LON   30410449 32300448 33310345 32980141 30380227 30410449

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 9, 4:32 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCEddy, Lea7 hr
Apr 9, 12:54 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHemphill, Lipscomb, Wheeler96 min
Apr 9, 2:06 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArmstrong, Bailey, Borden, Briscoe, Carson, Castro and 31 more54 min
Apr 9, 2:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArmstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress and 27 more8 hr
Apr 9, 4:37 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArmstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Cochran and 22 more83 min
Apr 9, 5:27 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBaylor, Foard, Hardeman, Knox, Wichita, Wilbarger8 hr

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.