Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2020

Tornado Watch 54

March 18, 202014 counties in Oklahoma; 45 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 18, 2020, 4:42 PM CDT for 14 counties in Oklahoma; 45 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 18, 2020, 4:42 PM CDT (21:42 UTC)
Expired: Mar 19, 2020, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 59 counties

Beckham County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Carter County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Jefferson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Love County, OK, Stephens County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Washita County, OK, Archer County, TX, Baylor County, TX, Borden County, TX, Callahan County, TX, Clay County, TX, Coke County, TX, Coleman County, TX, Concho County, TX, Cooke County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Denton County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Eastland County, TX, Fisher County, TX, Foard County, TX, Garza County, TX, Glasscock County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Haskell County, TX, Howard County, TX, Irion County, TX, Jack County, TX, Jones County, TX, Kent County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Mitchell County, TX, Montague County, TX, Nolan County, TX, Palo Pinto County, TX, Parker County, TX, Reagan County, TX, Runnels County, TX, Scurry County, TX, Shackelford County, TX, Stephens County, TX, Sterling County, TX, Stonewall County, TX, Taylor County, TX, Throckmorton County, TX, Tom Green County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX, Wise County, TX, Young County, TX

The radar

The Dyess AFB radar (KDYX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:44 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: 70%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 40%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 90%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 80%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 18, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan, Coleman, Runnels, Taylor	41 min
Mar 18, 5:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Coke, Sterling, Tom Green	28 min
Mar 18, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan, Jones, Shackelford, Taylor	42 min
Mar 18, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan, Coleman	52 min
Mar 18, 5:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Childress, Cottle	57 min
Mar 18, 5:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Haskell, Jones, Shackelford	57 min
Mar 18, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Eastland	62 min
Mar 18, 5:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard, Hardeman	46 min
Mar 18, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LUB	Cottle	58 min
Mar 18, 6:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Haskell, Jones, Shackelford, Throckmorton	65 min
Mar 18, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman	38 min
Mar 18, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jackson	46 min
Mar 18, 6:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard, Hardeman	52 min
Mar 18, 6:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Eastland, Stephens	18 min
Mar 18, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jackson, Kiowa	42 min
Mar 18, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Coleman, Runnels	49 min
Mar 18, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Baylor, Wilbarger	45 min
Mar 18, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Kiowa	29 min
Mar 18, 7:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Shackelford, Throckmorton	54 min
Mar 18, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Callahan, Taylor	63 min
Mar 18, 7:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Callahan, Shackelford, Taylor	23 min
Mar 18, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Foard	42 min
Mar 18, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Shackelford	47 min
Mar 18, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Jackson, Kiowa	40 min
Mar 18, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Jack, Palo Pinto, Wise	55 min
Mar 18, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Stephens, Young	66 min
Mar 18, 8:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OUN	Jackson, Kiowa	2 hr
Mar 18, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Comanche, Kiowa	44 min
Mar 18, 8:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Jack, Wise	42 min
Mar 18, 8:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Stephens, Young	46 min
Mar 18, 9:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto, Stephens	57 min
Mar 18, 9:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	FWD	Wise	50 min
Mar 18, 9:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Young	29 min
Mar 18, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto, Parker	59 min
Mar 18, 10:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Cooke, Montague, Wise	44 min
Mar 18, 10:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock, Midland, Reagan, Upton	52 min
Mar 18, 10:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Jack	40 min
Mar 18, 10:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto	3 hr
Mar 18, 10:33 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Cooke, Jack, Montague, Wise	3 hr
Mar 18, 10:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto, Parker, Wise	65 min
Mar 18, 10:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Cooke	62 min
Mar 18, 10:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Love	43 min
Mar 18, 10:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MAF	Glasscock, Reagan	28 min
Mar 18, 10:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Reagan	33 min
Mar 18, 11:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SJT	Sterling	60 min
Mar 18, 11:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Cooke	25 min
Mar 18, 11:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Love	24 min
Mar 18, 11:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MAF	Glasscock, Reagan	14 min
Mar 18, 11:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OUN	Love, Marshall	46 min
Mar 18, 11:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SJT	Coke, Sterling	31 min
Mar 18, 11:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Considerable damage threat	SJT	Coke, Sterling	34 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 54 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 823 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 187 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 199 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 18, 2:49 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jefferson	116 min
Mar 18, 6:48 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 1 more	117 min
Mar 17, 7:48 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Coke, Concho, Crockett, Fisher, Haskell, Irion and 10 more	117 min
Mar 17, 11:11 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Archer, Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Comanche and 22 more	34 min
Mar 18, 2:07 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bosque, Brown, Comanche, Dallas, Eastland, Ellis and 13 more	113 min
Mar 18, 5:37 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jones, Shackelford, Stephens, Throckmorton, Young	113 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2020 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2020 Every tornado watch in 2020

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.