Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2016

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 176

May 16, 20165 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 16, 2016, 1:29 PM MDT for 5 states. It was in force for 11 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2016, 1:29 PM MDT (19:29 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2016, 12:00 AM MDT
In force: 11 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 36 counties

Baca County, CO, Las Animas County, CO, Grant County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Seward County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Colfax County, NM, Harding County, NM, Quay County, NM, Union County, NM, Beaver County, OK, Cimarron County, OK, Texas County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Carson County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Donley County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Moore County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Wheeler County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:31 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: 10%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
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: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 1:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Union	35 min
May 16, 2:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Cimarron	53 min
May 16, 2:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Las Animas	22 min
May 16, 2:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Union	50 min
May 16, 2:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Union	32 min
May 16, 2:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Cimarron	64 min
May 16, 2:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABQ	Union	11 min
May 16, 3:36 PM MDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	AMA	Cimarron	24 min
May 16, 3:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Cimarron	63 min
May 16, 4:20 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Cimarron	25 min
May 16, 4:37 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	38 min
May 16, 4:42 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Dallam, Sherman	48 min
May 16, 5:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	67 min
May 16, 5:11 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Sherman	35 min
May 16, 5:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	75 min
May 16, 6:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore, Sherman	59 min
May 16, 6:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	42 min
May 16, 6:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Texas	53 min
May 16, 6:35 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Hutchinson, Ochiltree, Roberts	70 min
May 16, 6:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley, Moore, Oldham, Potter	80 min
May 16, 6:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	56 min
May 16, 7:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hemphill, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts	72 min
May 16, 7:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Gray, Hutchinson, Roberts	53 min
May 16, 7:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Potter	64 min
May 16, 7:56 PM MDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	AMA	Hemphill	34 min
May 16, 8:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Potter	30 min
May 16, 8:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Gray, Hemphill, Roberts, Wheeler	80 min
May 16, 8:29 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Hemphill	16 min
May 16, 8:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Carson, Donley, Gray	76 min
May 16, 9:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Collingsworth, Donley, Gray, Wheeler	73 min
May 16, 10:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Collingsworth, Donley	36 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, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 146 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 513 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 245 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 1:06 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baca, Las Animas	84 min
May 16, 2:24 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brewster, Concho, Crockett, Irion, Menard, Presidio and 7 more	2 hr
May 16, 4:58 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Dallam, Hansford, Hartley, Hutchinson, Moore, Sherman	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2016 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2016 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in New Mexico, 2016 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2016

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.