Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 35, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

December 7, 1988Williamson County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this tornado warning at Dec 7, 1988, 6:26 PM CST for Williamson County, Texas. It was in force for 34 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 7, 1988, 6:26 PM CST (00:26 UTC)
Expired
Dec 7, 1988, 7:00 PM CST
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Williamson 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

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 181 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1988-12-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1988-12-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 58 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1799 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
148 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KAUS 080028
TORAUS
TXC491-080115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN TX
626 PM CST WED DEC 7 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
          ...NORTHERN WILLIAMSON
 
AUSTIN RADAR INDICATES A POSSIBLE TORNADO BETWEEN BRIGGS AND JARRELL
MOVING TOWARDS THE EAST NORTHEAST.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
 
\

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, Dec 7, 5:10 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN TX
510 PM CST WED DEC 7 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING NORTHWEST THROUGH NORTHEAST OF AUSTIN...

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSYORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN ADVANCE OF A COLD FRONT
NORTHWEST THROUGH NORTHEAST OF AUSTIN...MOVEMENT WAS TOWARDS THE
NORTHEAST AT NEAR 15 MPH.

SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED FROM NORTH OF KERRVILLE TO
LLANO AND BURNET...ALSO FROM EAST OF ELGIN TO NEAR CAMERON.
A LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS ALSO NOTED NEAR TEMPLE AND WACO
EAST TO GROESBECK.

A FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.
Special weather statement, Dec 7, 5:27 PM CST, 59 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN TX
525 PM CST WED DEC 7 1988

...INTENSE THUNDERSTORM NEAR THE CITY OF BURNET...

AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR THE CITY OF BURNET.
MOVEMENT WAS TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.

THIS THUNDERSTORM MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY
RAINFALL WAS IT MOVES TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST ACROSS BURNET COUNTY.

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.