Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2018

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 70

May 3, 201844 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 3, 2018, 7:03 AM CDT for 44 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 3, 2018, 7:03 AM CDT (12:03 UTC)
Expired
May 3, 2018, 2:00 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 44 counties

Bell County, TX, Bosque County, TX, Brown County, TX, Burnet County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Collin County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Concho County, TX, Coryell County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Denton County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Erath County, TX, Falls County, TX, Fannin County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hill County, TX, Hood County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Jack County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Kimble County, TX, Lampasas County, TX, Llano County, TX, Mason County, TX, McCulloch County, TX, McLennan County, TX, Menard County, TX, Mills County, TX, Navarro County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Rockwall County, TX, San Saba County, TX, Schleicher County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Sutton County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Williamson County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:02 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
2%
Ten or more severe wind reports
70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
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
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 7:14 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDYoung14 min
May 3, 7:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTSchleicher, Sutton43 min
May 3, 7:48 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDEastland, Palo Pinto, Stephens42 min
May 3, 8:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJack, Palo Pinto, Young62 min
May 3, 8:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDEastland, Erath, Hood, Jack, Palo Pinto, Parker63 min
May 3, 8:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJTBrown59 min
May 3, 8:47 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDComanche, Hamilton, Mills58 min
May 3, 8:56 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague, Wise53 min
May 3, 10:09 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJohnson, Tarrant43 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

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 342 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2018-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 236 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2018-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 85 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
236 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-135 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
974 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 2, 7:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCallahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett, Eastland and 27 more88 min
May 2, 10:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBorden, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Crockett and 28 more93 min
May 3, 4:06 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Denton, Foard and 13 more114 min
May 3, 5:18 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArcher, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Grayson, Montague and 2 more6 hr
May 3, 5:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBosque, Brown, Callahan, Coleman, Comanche, Concho and 28 more2 hr
May 3, 9:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArcher, Baylor, Bell, Bosque, Brown, Burnet and 39 more65 min
May 3, 12:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBell, Bosque, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Coryell and 22 more85 min
May 3, 5:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBandera, Bexar, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie and 8 more2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 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.