Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2015

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 174

May 15, 2015Beaver County, Oklahoma; 34 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 15, 2015, 10:53 PM CDT for Beaver County, Oklahoma; 34 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2015, 10:53 PM CDT (03:53 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2015, 4:00 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 35 counties

Beaver County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Castro County, TX, Childress County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Garza County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Motley County, TX, Ochiltree 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), 22 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:54 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
10%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
2%
Ten or more severe wind reports
20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 11:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBBailey, Cochran, Lamb44 min
May 16, 12:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMADeaf Smith, Potter, Randall55 min
May 16, 12:26 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAHansford, Hutchinson, Ochiltree, Roberts64 min
May 16, 1:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMABeaver66 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 00:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 21 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 414 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 70 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
414 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 8:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Cimarron, Ellis, Harper, Roger Mills, Texas2 hr
May 16, 1:32 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeaver, Ellis, Harmon88 min
May 16, 10:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Garfield, Grant and 9 more95 min
May 16, 11:57 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman2 hr
May 16, 12:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCimarron, Texas89 min
May 16, 12:58 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBeaver, Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Roger Mills and 2 more6 hr
May 16, 3:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGrant, Kay86 min
May 16, 3:41 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Atoka, Beckham, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo and 42 more94 min
May 16, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAlfalfa, Atoka, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian and 37 more8 hr
May 16, 5:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Bryan, Caddo and 40 more95 min
May 16, 2:43 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCallahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett, Glasscock and 18 more92 min
May 16, 5:47 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBrown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Comanche, Cooke and 21 more5 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2015Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2015Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2015

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.