Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 135

May 6, 201518 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 6, 2015, 3:00 PM CDT for 18 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 6, 2015, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 2015, 10:03 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Brown County, TX, Coke County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Concho County, TX, Crockett County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Irion County, TX, Kimble County, TX, Mason County, TX, McCulloch County, TX, Menard County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Runnels County, TX, San Saba County, TX, Schleicher County, TX, Sterling County, TX, Sutton County, TX, Tom Green County, TX

The radar

The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
10%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTColeman, Concho, McCulloch, Runnels51 min
May 6, 3:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTColeman, Runnels52 min
May 6, 4:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTCallahan, Coleman, Taylor38 min
May 6, 4:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTFisher, Haskell, Jones34 min
May 6, 5:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTFisher, Haskell, Jones46 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 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 189 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 2015-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 428 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 2015-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 41 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
428 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1325 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 7:41 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBorden, Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Crosby, Dickens and 15 more2 hr
May 5, 8:07 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCCoke, Cottle, Crosby, Dickens, Fisher, Foard and 14 more4 hr
May 5, 9:56 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBorden, Callahan, Coke, Cottle, Crosby, Dickens and 23 more94 min
May 6, 1:03 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Childress, Clay, Cottle, Dickens and 17 more117 min
May 6, 1:23 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCArcher, Baylor, Callahan, Clay, Eastland, Foard and 16 more8 hr
May 6, 1:46 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett and 22 more119 min
May 6, 3:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Clay, Foard, Hardeman, Haskell and 8 more2 hr
May 6, 5:25 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Clay, Foard, Hardeman, Haskell and 13 more2 hr
May 6, 6:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Foard, Hardeman and 13 more86 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.