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Saragosa, Texas, Tornado May 22, 1987 An Evaluation of the Warning System (1991) / Chapter Skim
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4 Tornado Warning Dissemination
Pages 22-28

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From page 22...
... weather wire, commercial television, and a radio station in Pecos. The nearest NOAA weather radio transmitter is near Odessa, but its range cannot reach Reeves County or Saragosa.
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From page 23...
... A special AFOS (automation of field operations) asynchronous line2 from NWS Austin sends Texas severe weather watches, warnings, and statements to the DPS headquarters in the state capital.
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From page 24...
... Most cable subscribers were probably watching Univision, the popular Spanishlanguage entertainment station. Cable stations do not carry severe weather warning messages.
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From page 25...
... Tornado warning crawls are normally shown on screen twice, back to back, and are repeated every 15 minutes. KOSA-TV, Channel 7, the CBS affiliate in Odessa, carries weather crawls at 10-minute intervals for tornado warnings and 20-minute intervals for tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings.
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From page 26...
... The DPS dispatcher broadcasts severe weather information to all DPS units as soon as possible. NWS Midland called the Pecos DPS by telephone to say that it was going to issue the severe thunderstorm and flash flood warning at 7:37 p.m.
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From page 27...
... Information on severe weather was distributed by the television stations in Midland and Odessa and by radio station KIUN/E~X in Pecos. People in Saragosa who were watching noncable television programs or listening to KIUN/KPTX had opportunities throughout the afternoon to become aware of the storms and of the tornado warning for south-central Reeves County.
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From page 28...
... Fortunately, TSN provided a major public service in distributing Texas weather wire data to its 148 affiliate stations, including KIUN in Pecos. The TSN is an extremely valuable asset that should be replicated in all states.
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Key Terms

  • weather information
  • reeves county
  • severe weather
  • noaa weather
  • weather radio

  • severe thunderstorm
  • weather wire
  • nws midland
  • radio operator
  • flash flood

  • pecos dps
  • saragosa tornado
  • flood warning
  • emergency management
  • weather crawls

  • dps office
  • radio station
  • tornado warnings
  • near odessa
  • safety rules

  • dps headquarters
  • wire service
  • nws offices
  • warning dissemination
  • television stations

  • nws radar
  • station provides
  • dispatcher broadcasts
  • storm indicated
  • texas weather


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