Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 131

May 4, 201518 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 4, 2015, 7:53 PM CDT for 18 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 4, 2015, 7:53 PM CDT (00:53 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 2015, 2:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Andrews County, TX, Brewster County, TX, Crane County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Ector County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Howard County, TX, Loving County, TX, Martin County, TX, Midland County, TX, Pecos County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Reeves County, TX, Terrell County, TX, Upton County, TX, Val Verde County, TX, Ward County, TX, Winkler County, TX

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:54 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
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos64 min
May 4, 8:08 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMAFPecos, Reeves4 hr
May 4, 8:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos, Reeves65 min
May 4, 8:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos62 min
May 4, 9:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFLoving, Reeves, Ward, Winkler41 min
May 4, 9:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFWard44 min
May 4, 9:54 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMAFReeves, Ward3 hr
May 4, 9:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos62 min
May 4, 10:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane, Pecos, Ward60 min
May 4, 10:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFBorden, Dawson, Martin63 min
May 4, 10:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane, Ward45 min
May 4, 10:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFPecos51 min
May 4, 11:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane46 min
May 5, 12:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFCrane, Ector, Midland, Upton45 min
May 5, 1:16 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAFMidland44 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

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 109 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 544 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 3 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
544 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:12 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Ector, Loving and 10 more93 min
May 4, 7:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Ector, Glasscock and 14 more65 min
May 4, 10:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Crane, Crockett, Ector, Loving, Martin and 9 more115 min
May 5, 1:51 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCoke, Concho, Crockett, Fisher, Glasscock, Irion and 12 more114 min
May 5, 2:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCParmer89 min
May 5, 2:58 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Bailey, Borden, Cochran, Crosby, Dawson and 12 more92 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2015Every tornado 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.