Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2016

Tornado Watch 177

May 16, 20166 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2016, 5:58 PM CDT for 6 counties in Texas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2016, 5:58 PM CDT (22:58 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2016, 8:54 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Dallam County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Moore County, TX, Sherman County, TX

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:57 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: 50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
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: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	67 min
May 16, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	AMA	Sherman	35 min
May 16, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Sherman	75 min
May 16, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Moore, Sherman	59 min
May 16, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Dallam, Hartley	42 min
May 16, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford, Hutchinson, Ochiltree, Roberts	70 min
May 16, 7:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hartley, Moore, Oldham, Potter	80 min
May 16, 7:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	56 min
May 16, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Carson, Gray, Hutchinson, Roberts	53 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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 105 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

The text

As transmitted.

430 
WWUS20 KWNS 162255
SEL7  
SPC WW 162255
TXZ000-170300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 177
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
600 PM CDT MON MAY 16 2016

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS PANHANDLE

* EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY EVENING FROM 600 PM UNTIL 1000 PM CDT.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  A FEW TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER
    POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE

SUMMARY...CLUSTERS OF SUPERCELLS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD
INTO AN ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTIVE OF LOW-LEVEL STORM ROTATION AND AN
ATTENDANT TORNADO RISK.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING GUSTS WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE AS THE STORMS PERSIST THROUGH LATE EVENING.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 30 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF
DALHART TEXAS TO 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF BORGER TEXAS.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU7).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 176...

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 30025.


...THOMPSON

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 2:06 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle and 19 more	84 min
May 16, 2:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Armstrong, Carson, Collingsworth, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Donley and 14 more	11 hr
May 16, 3:24 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brewster, Concho, Crockett, Irion, Menard, Presidio and 7 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2016 Every tornado 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.