Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2018
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 101
The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 17, 2018, 2:37 PM MDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 17, 2018, 2:37 PM MDT (20:37 UTC)
- Expired
- May 17, 2018, 9:00 PM MDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 60 counties
Baca County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Finney County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Seward County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Beaver County, OK, Cimarron County, OK, Texas County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Bailey County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Castro County, TX, Childress County, TX, Cochran County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Crosby County, TX, Dallam County, TX, Deaf Smith County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Garza County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hale County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hockley County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Lamb County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Lubbock County, TX, Lynn County, TX, Moore County, TX, Motley County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Oldham County, TX, Parmer County, TX, Potter County, TX, Randall County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Sherman County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Swisher County, TX, Terry County, TX, Wheeler County, TX, Yoakum County, TX
The radar
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:38 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
- 10%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 2%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 60%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 50%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 40%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
25 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 2:43 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Hockley, Lamb | 40 min |
| May 17, 2:53 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Castro, Parmer | 52 min |
| May 17, 3:14 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Hockley, Lubbock | 46 min |
| May 17, 3:26 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Deaf Smith, Oldham, Randall | 45 min |
| May 17, 3:35 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Castro, Hale, Lamb, Swisher | 55 min |
| May 17, 3:41 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Briscoe, Floyd, Hale, Swisher | 64 min |
| May 17, 4:09 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hutchinson, Moore | 66 min |
| May 17, 4:12 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Terry, Yoakum | 48 min |
| May 17, 4:21 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Texas | 54 min |
| May 17, 4:21 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Crosby, Garza, Lubbock, Lynn | 39 min |
| May 17, 4:29 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Briscoe, Floyd, Hale, Swisher | 61 min |
| May 17, 4:31 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Moore | 59 min |
| May 17, 4:32 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Briscoe, Cottle, Floyd, Hall, Motley | 58 min |
| May 17, 4:33 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DDC | Morton, Stevens | 57 min |
| May 17, 4:59 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hartley, Hutchinson, Moore | 46 min |
| May 17, 5:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Garza | 60 min |
| May 17, 5:26 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Hall, Motley | 64 min |
| May 17, 5:39 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Collingsworth, Donley, Wheeler | 38 min |
| May 17, 5:46 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hutchinson, Moore | 74 min |
| May 17, 5:50 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Texas | 50 min |
| May 17, 5:53 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Garza, Kent | 39 min |
| May 17, 5:57 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | LUB | Garza, Kent | 33 min |
| May 17, 6:27 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Childress, Cottle, Hall, Motley | 63 min |
| May 17, 6:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LUB | Garza, Kent | 60 min |
| May 17, 7:01 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | AMA | Hutchinson, Roberts | 59 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, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 90 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 784 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -326 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1460 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 246 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 294 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.6
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 1:38 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baca, Prowers | 2 hr |
| May 17, 4:19 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick and 3 more | 116 min |
| May 17, 4:57 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick | 6 hr |
| May 17, 9:32 AM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Comanche, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Hodgeman and 2 more | 2 hr |
| May 17, 5:44 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Roger Mills | 61 min |
| May 17, 3:39 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Borden, Crane, Crockett, Dawson, Ector and 10 more | 66 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2018Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2018Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2018Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2018
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.