Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 50, NWS Fort Worth, TX

November 24, 1987Cooke County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Nov 24, 1987, 5:30 PM CST for Cooke County, Texas. It was in force for 60 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Nov 24, 1987, 5:30 PM CST (23:30 UTC)
Expired
Nov 24, 1987, 6:30 PM CST
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Cooke County, TX

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Nov 24, 5:30 PM CSTTornado F1Cooke, TX
Nov 24, 5:45 PM CSTTornado F1Cooke, TX

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Sill, OK (KFSI), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 157 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, Fort Sill, OK at 12:00Z on 1987-11-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 654 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Fort Sill, OK at 12:00Z on 1987-11-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 342 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 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
654 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
520 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
342 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
310 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
4.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KFTW 242330
TORFTW
TXC097-250030-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
530 PM CST TUE NOV 24 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
          ...COOKE
 
AT 530 PM SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO SOUTHEAST OF VALLEYVIEW IN
SOUTHERN COOKE COUNTY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR. PEOPLE
IN VALLEYVIEW SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Nov 24, 4:43 PM CST, 47 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
440 PM CST TUE NOV 24 1987

...HEAVY RAINS POSSIBLE OVER NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS
   LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER MOST OF NORTH
TEXAS TONIGHT.  SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY
RAINFALL OVER NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS LATE TONIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY.

THE PRECIPITATION IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP AS A COLD FRONT LOCATED
FROM WEST OF WICHITA FALLS TO NORTH OF MIDLAND MOVES SLOWLY
SOUTHEAST THROUGH NORTH TEXAS.

IN ADDITION TO THE COLD FRONT...AN UPPER LEVEL IMPULSE OVER NORTHERN
MEXICO IS FORECAST TO TRACK NORTHEASTWARD OVER NORTH TEXAS.
THIS UPPER LEVEL IMPULSE SHOULD CAUSE THUNDERSTORMS TO INTENSIFY
LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...POSSIBLE PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINFALL ALONG AND EAST OF THE FRONTAL ZONE IN NORTH CENTRAL
AND NORTHEAST TEXAS.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVFICE RADAR INDICATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
WERE ALREADY DEVELOPING WEST AND SOUTHWEST OF WICHITA FALLS AND WEST
FORT WORTH LATE THIS AFTERNOON.

STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.