Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

July 30, 1995Galveston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jul 30, 1995, 4:58 PM CDT for Galveston County, Texas. It was in force for 62 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 30, 1995, 4:58 PM CDT (21:58 UTC)
Expired: Jul 30, 1995, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Galveston County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 32 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 580 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 139 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 103 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 KHOU 302158
TORHOU
TXC167-302300-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
458 PM CDT SUN JUL 30 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...GALVESTON COUNTY
 
AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
 
AT 455 PM...A THUNDERSTORM CONTAINING A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS LOCATED
JUST OFF THE UPPER TEXAS COAST 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HIGH ISLAND.
MOVEMENT WAS WEST NORTHWEST AT 10 MILES AN HOUR. THIS PATH WILL BRING
THE STORM OVER THE BOLIVAR PENINSULA JUST WEST OF HIGH ISLAND BY 600
PM.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR VEHICLE TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. VEHICLES ARE
EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE
PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE VEHICLE 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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 30, 2:21 PM CDT, 2 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 30, 2:21 PM CDT, 2 hours 37 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
220 PM CDT SAT JUL 29 1995

TROPICAL DEPRESSION #4 CONTINUES TO MAKE PROGRESS TOWARD SOUTHEAST
TEXAS.  THIS WILL BE THE DOMINANT FEATURE IN THE FORECAST FOR THE
NEXT 24 TO 48 HOURS.  ETA/NGM AGREE WITH CONTINUING WESTWARD TRACK OF
THIS SYSTEM...LEAVING SE TX ON THE EAST SIDE OF THE LOW WITH
SOUTHEAST WINDS CONTINUING TO PUMP TROPICAL MOISTURE OVER THE FA.
CURRENT SATELLITE LOOP INDICATES DOMINANT CONVECTION STILL TO EAST
AND NORTH OF THE CENTER AND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE INTO THE REGION
TONIGHT AND MONDAY.  PWS TO REMAIN 2 INCHES OR ABOVE THROUGH THE
PERIOD.  THIS WILL CONTINUE THE THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN THROUGH 24
HOURS.  8THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH WILL LIKELY BE EXTENDED.  TIDES ALONG
THE COAST WILL REMAIN 3 TO 5 FEET ABOVE NORMAL DUE TO THE LONG
EASTERLY FETCH.  TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE SO WILL NOT STRAY FAR.

PRELIMS...
IAH TT 076/087 078/089 078 36+85

36/47

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 30, 3:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Chambers, Galveston	67 min
Jul 30, 6:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Galveston	27 min
Jul 30, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Chambers	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1995 Every tornado warning in 1995 Tornadoes in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.