Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 43

February 26, 20235 counties in Kansas; 22 counties in Oklahoma; 26 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 26, 2023, 3:33 PM CST for 5 counties in Kansas; 22 counties in Oklahoma; 26 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Feb 26, 2023, 3:33 PM CST (21:33 UTC)
Expired: Feb 26, 2023, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 85 kt

All 53 counties

Barber County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Pratt County, KS, Alfalfa County, OK, Beaver County, OK, Beckham County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Comanche County, OK, Cotton County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Greer County, OK, Harmon County, OK, Harper County, OK, Jackson County, OK, Kiowa County, OK, Major County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Texas County, OK, Tillman County, OK, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK, Armstrong County, TX, Baylor County, TX, Briscoe County, TX, Carson County, TX, Childress County, TX, Collingsworth County, TX, Cottle County, TX, Dickens County, TX, Donley County, TX, Floyd County, TX, Foard County, TX, Gray County, TX, Hall County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hardeman County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, King County, TX, Knox County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Motley County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Roberts County, TX, Wheeler County, TX, Wichita County, TX, Wilbarger County, TX

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:33 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: 60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 40%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 90%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 90%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 26, 3:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Texas	61 min
Feb 26, 4:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Carson, Gray, Hansford, Hutchinson, Moore, Ochiltree and 2 more	64 min
Feb 26, 4:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Beaver, Texas	57 min
Feb 26, 4:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Beaver	55 min
Feb 26, 4:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Armstrong, Carson, Donley, Gray, Hemphill, Roberts and 1 more	65 min
Feb 26, 5:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	AMA	Hansford, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts	44 min
Feb 26, 5:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DDC	Clark, Ford, Gray, Hodgeman, Meade	52 min
Feb 26, 5:15 PM CST	Tornado Warning	AMA	Armstrong, Carson, Donley, Gray, Wheeler	45 min
Feb 26, 5:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	AMA	Gray, Hemphill, Wheeler	41 min
Feb 26, 5:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Meade	23 min
Feb 26, 5:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LUB	Briscoe	33 min
Feb 26, 5:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	AMA	Armstrong, Carson, Collingsworth, Donley, Gray, Wheeler	65 min
Feb 26, 5:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DDC	Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Gray, Hodgeman and 3 more	48 min
Feb 26, 6:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	LUB	Briscoe, Childress, Cottle, Floyd, Hall, Motley	65 min
Feb 26, 6:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	AMA	Collingsworth, Donley, Gray, Wheeler	49 min
Feb 26, 6:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Ellis, Roger Mills	46 min
Feb 26, 6:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Harper	46 min
Feb 26, 6:31 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Ellis, Roger Mills	15 min
Feb 26, 6:37 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Beckham, Roger Mills	23 min
Feb 26, 6:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Ellis, Harper, Woods	41 min
Feb 26, 6:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	AMA	Collingsworth	26 min
Feb 26, 6:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	OUN	Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Roger Mills	52 min
Feb 26, 6:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	AMA	Collingsworth, Wheeler	24 min
Feb 26, 7:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Greer, Harmon	30 min
Feb 26, 7:03 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Beckham, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Major, Roger Mills and 1 more	42 min
Feb 26, 7:05 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Beckham, Greer, Harmon	25 min
Feb 26, 7:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	LUB	Childress, Cottle, Hall, Motley	38 min
Feb 26, 7:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Ellis, Harper, Woods, Woodward	36 min
Feb 26, 7:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LUB	Cottle, Dickens, Kent, King, Motley, Stonewall	56 min
Feb 26, 7:24 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	OUN	Beckham, Greer, Harmon, Kiowa, Washita	51 min
Feb 26, 7:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Harmon, Jackson, Tillman	46 min
Feb 26, 7:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	OUN	Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer and 7 more	42 min
Feb 26, 7:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Greer, Kiowa	50 min
Feb 26, 7:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Major, Roger Mills and 2 more	47 min
Feb 26, 7:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Woods, Woodward	44 min
Feb 26, 7:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Baylor, Foard, Knox, Wilbarger	42 min
Feb 26, 8:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Comanche, Cotton, Jackson, Tillman	54 min
Feb 26, 8:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	OUN	Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer, Dewey and 6 more	49 min
Feb 26, 8:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Garfield, Grant and 3 more	48 min
Feb 26, 8:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber	23 min
Feb 26, 8:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	OUN	Caddo	20 min
Feb 26, 8:29 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	19 min
Feb 26, 8:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Archer, Baylor, Wichita, Wilbarger	45 min
Feb 26, 8:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Caddo, Canadian, Grady	39 min
Feb 26, 8:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OUN	Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin and 6 more	45 min
Feb 26, 8:46 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Grant	14 min
Feb 26, 8:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant	23 min
Feb 26, 9:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Cotton, Jefferson	42 min
Feb 26, 9:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OUN	Alfalfa, Blaine, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Kingfisher and 3 more	39 min
Feb 26, 9:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OUN	Garfield, Kingfisher, Major	17 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, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 199 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: 435 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 250 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 199 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
Feb 26, 2:33 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Haskell, Meade, Seward, Stevens	117 min
Feb 26, 3:03 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barton, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and 10 more	117 min
Feb 26, 3:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and 11 more	5 hr
Feb 26, 5:51 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barton, Edwards, Ellis, Ellsworth, Ford, Gray and 10 more	54 min
Feb 26, 5:05 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Beaver, Beckham, Ellis, Harmon, Roger Mills	85 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2023 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2023 Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2023 Every tornado watch in 2023

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.