Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 194

May 23, 20157 counties in Oklahoma; 37 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2015, 1:16 PM CDT for 7 counties in Oklahoma; 37 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 23, 2015, 1:16 PM CDT (18:16 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 2015, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
55 kt
All 44 counties

Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Archer County, TX, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Baylor County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Castro County, TX, Childress County, TX, Clay County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Garza County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Motley County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Terry County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX, Yoakum County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:18 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
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
20%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
5%
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
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 1:32 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningOUNBeckham, Greer, Harmon3 hr
May 23, 3:05 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningAMAPotter, Randall3 hr
May 23, 3:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMAPotter, Randall31 min
May 23, 4:06 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningOUNBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Custer, Greer and 3 more5 hr
May 23, 5:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUBLynn47 min
May 23, 6:08 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningOUNCaddo, Canadian, Comanche, Grady, Jackson, Kiowa7 hr

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, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 294 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 2015-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 494 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 2015-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 330 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
494 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-248 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1265 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
330 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
404 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 12:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Comanche, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 2 more2 hr
May 23, 3:44 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCComanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 1 more2 hr
May 23, 5:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche, Cotton and 22 more2 hr
May 23, 5:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAtoka, Bryan, Caddo, Canadian, Carter, Cleveland and 21 more9 hr
May 23, 6:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Comanche and 30 more83 min
May 23, 6:53 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Cherokee, Choctaw, Craig, Creek, Delaware and 19 more9 hr
May 22, 7:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrane, Ector, Loving, Pecos, Reeves, Ward and 1 more114 min
May 23, 12:35 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBailey, Castro, Cochran, Deaf Smith, Hockley, Lamb and 6 more115 min
May 23, 5:38 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArmstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Collingsworth, Donley and 9 more97 min
May 23, 2:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrewster, Coke, Concho, Crane, Crockett, Ector and 28 more88 min
May 23, 3:04 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAndrews, Borden, Brewster, Brown, Callahan, Coke and 49 more6 hr
May 23, 6:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAndrews, Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Borden and 61 more114 min
May 23, 6:19 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAtascosa, Bandera, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Blanco and 30 more9 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2015Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 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.