Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 287

May 21, 201210 counties in New Mexico; Cimarron County, Oklahoma; 14 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 21, 2012, 2:24 PM MDT for 10 counties in New Mexico; Cimarron County, Oklahoma; 14 counties in Texas. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 21, 2012, 2:24 PM MDT (20:24 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 2012, 10:00 PM MDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 25 counties

Colfax 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, Hale County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Moore County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Swisher County, TX

The radar

The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:26 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 3:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQColfax60 min
May 21, 3:11 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQDe Baca, Guadalupe64 min
May 21, 3:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQColfax61 min
May 21, 4:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQGuadalupe, San Miguel51 min
May 21, 4:11 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQColfax, Mora64 min
May 21, 4:11 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQGuadalupe34 min
May 21, 4:40 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQColfax, Harding, Mora65 min
May 21, 4:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQMora, San Miguel48 min
May 21, 5:06 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQSan Miguel54 min
May 21, 6:17 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQHarding, Quay, San Miguel58 min
May 21, 6:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQHarding, Union62 min
May 21, 6:51 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQCurry, Harding, Quay, San Miguel54 min
May 21, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAOldham60 min
May 21, 7:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQCurry47 min
May 21, 7:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQQuay, Union24 min
May 21, 7:39 PM MDTTornado WarningAMADeaf Smith, Oldham51 min
May 21, 7:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADeaf Smith, Hartley, Oldham53 min
May 21, 8:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQCurry59 min
May 21, 8:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBCastro, Parmer48 min
May 21, 8:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADeaf Smith, Oldham, Potter, Randall60 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 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 199 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2012-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 849 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2012-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 60 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
849 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 11:59 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColfax, Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Mora and 4 more91 min
May 21, 4:18 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCColfax, Curry, Harding, Mora, Quay, San Miguel and 1 more87 min
May 20, 6:32 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDickens, Haskell, Kent, King, Knox, Stonewall88 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in New Mexico, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2012Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.