Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 8, 1988Hill County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1988, 6:36 AM CDT for Hill County, Texas. It was in force for 39 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 1988, 6:36 AM CDT (11:36 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1988, 7:15 AM CDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Hill 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, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 95 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: 996 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -124 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 797 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 78 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KACT 081138
TORACT
TXC217-081215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WACO TX
636 AM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WACO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
          ...NORTHERN HILL
 
AT 636 AM CDT RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR KOPPERL TEXAS AND
WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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, May 8, 6:03 AM CDT, 33 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WACO TX
600 AM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM CDT FOR BELL...BOSQUE...CORYELL
   ...HILL...FALLS...LIMESTONE AND MCLENNAN COUNTIES OF CENTRAL TEXAS...

AT 555 AM CDT RADAR SHOWED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN
FROM NORTH OF FORT WORTH TO NEAR BROWNWOOD.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE IN RESPONSE TO A COLD FRONT MOVING EAST...WITH
STORMS ENTERING BOSQUE WITHIN A HALF HOUR.

STAY ALERT TO THREATENING WEATHER THIS MORNING. PLAN WHERE TO TAKE
COVER EARLY BEFORE THE STORMS GET NEAR.

05

Special weather statement, May 8, 6:28 AM CDT, 8 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
625 AM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTI 11 AM THIS MORNING FOR A LARGE PART OF
NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...

AT 620 AM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS JUST
EAST OF DECATUR IN WISE COUNTY AND IN WESTERN DENTON COUNTY NEAR DENTON
AND ROANOKE. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO MOVING THROUGH COMANCHE COUNTY.

THESE STORMS WERE PART OF AN AREA OF DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORMS THAT
EXTENDED SOUTHWEST OUT OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA TO JUST NORTH OF THE DALLAS
...FORT WORTH METROPLEX...THEN CONTINUING FROM SOUTHEAST PARKER COUNTY
TO SOUTH OF COMANCHE. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO MOVING EAST AT 30
MILES AN HOUR.

THESE STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS
...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND LARGE HAIL. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THESE
STORMS...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM OF YOUR HOME. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

THE TORNADO WATCH DOES INCLUDE THE DALLAS/FORT WORTH METROPLEX. A FEW OF
THE OTHER CITIES IN THE WATCH INCLUDE...PARIS...SHERMAN...GREENVILLE...
AND CORSICANA.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS AND WARNINGS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 4:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Young	15 min
May 8, 4:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Jack	45 min
May 8, 4:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Wise	55 min
May 8, 6:27 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Bosque	18 min
May 8, 7:10 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin, Dallas, Rockwall	50 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes 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.