Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Brownsville, TX
NWS Brownsville, TX issued this tornado warning at Jul 7, 1988, 5:12 PM CDT for Hidalgo County, Texas. It was in force for 48 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 7, 1988, 5:12 PM CDT (22:12 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 7, 1988, 6:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Brownsville, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Hidalgo County, TX
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
The nearest sounding before it
Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 96 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 908 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -60 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 974 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 7 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 12 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBRO 072212 TORBRO TXC215-072300- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 512 PM CDT THU JUL 7 1988 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF EXTREME SOUTH TEXAS...HIDALGO AT 500 PM FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE REPORTED IN THE EDINBURG AND MCALLEN AREAS. THESE WERE ACCOCIATED WITH A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MPH. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM..GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER OR A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUILDING. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING. YOU SHOULD ASK THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO RELAY YOUR SEVERE WEATHER REPORTS TO THE LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. PLEASE LISTEN TO YOUR LOCAL RADIO..TV OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO STATION FOR LATER STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS REGARDING THIS SEVERE WEATHER E!VENT.
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, Jul 7, 2:58 PM CDT, 2 hours 14 minutes before
URBAN FLOOD STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 255 PM CDT THU JUL 7 1988 A THUNDERSTORM WHICH DEVELOPED OVER THE CITY OF BROWNSVILLE SHORTLY BEFORE 200 PM PRODUCED VERY HEAVY RAIN... ESPECIALLY IN THE DOWNDOWN AREA... CAUSING WIDESPREAD STREET FLOODING. ALSO A BUILDING HAS COLLAPSED... WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY THE WEIGHT OF THE WATER. THE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL PROBABLY EXCEEDED TWO INCHES IN LESS THAN THIRTY MINUTES. THE THUNDERSTORM OVER BROWNSVILLE HAS DECREASED IN INTENSITY WHILE DRIFTING WEST... AND IS PART OF A AREA OF WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WHICH DEVELOPED OVER THE EASTERN END OF THE VALLEY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD CONTINUE TO DEVELiOP WEST ACROSS THE REST OF THE VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON... POSSIBLY CAUSING ADDITIONAL LOCAL FLOODING OF STREETS OR DITCHES.
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes in 1988
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.