Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 31, 1995Washington County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 31, 1995, 7:20 PM CST for Washington County, Texas. It was in force for 25 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Oct 31, 1995, 7:20 PM CST (01:20 UTC)
Expired
Oct 31, 1995, 7:45 PM CST
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Washington County, TX

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:22 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 291 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-11-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1940 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-11-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 124 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
1940 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
640 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.1
Supercell composite
10.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 010120
TORHOU
TXC477-010215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
720 PM CST TUE OCT 31 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 718 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM LOCATED
ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF SOMERVILLE NEAR TEXAS HIGHWAY 36. THE STORM WAS
MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL PASS BETWEEN THE CITIES OF CLAY
AND INDEPENDENCE AROUND 735 PM. THIS STORM ALSO HAS A HISTORY OF
PRODUCING GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL NEAR LAKE SOMERVILLE AT 7 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND
MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT GET
INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
 
 
&

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 Oct 31, 3:42 PM CST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 31, 3:42 PM CST, 3 hours 38 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION ...UPDATED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
335 PM CST TUE OCT 31 1995

IN ADDITION TO THE EARLIER AFD...DECIDED TO KEEP HIER POPS IN THE
LATER PDS THAN SUGGESTED BY THE FWC.  A SFC LOW LOOKS TO BE LOCATED
OVR SRN TX BY THE END OF THE PD...WHILE ALL THREE MODELS SUGGEST AT
TSTM ACTIVITY DURG THE LATER PDS.  ALSO...I MAY HAVE UNDER ESTIMATED
THE CHCS FOR TONIGHT EARLIER.  SATL LOOPS SHOW THE NOSE OF THE JET
MOVG INTO THE HILL COUNTRY AREA WHERE TSTMS WHERE OCCURRING AS OF
LATE WITH PLENTY OF MOISTURE DIGGING AROUND THE S/W AND COMING THIS
WAY.  SO...HAVE UP EARLIER THOUGHTS ON POPS ACROSS THE AREA WITH HIER
POPS STILL WELL INLAND NEAR THE CURRENT ACTIVITY.

TEMPS NR MOS.

PRELIMS... IAH EE 066/082 065/084 064 40454

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 31, 6:20 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHouston60 min
Oct 31, 6:33 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBurleson, Washington57 min
Oct 31, 7:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBurleson30 min
Oct 31, 8:34 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXGrimes40 min
Nov 1, 2:03 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBurleson117 min
Nov 1, 2:54 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBrazos, Washington2 hr
Nov 1, 3:25 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXGrimes, Madison2 hr
Nov 1, 4:11 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHouston2 hr
Nov 1, 4:42 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXTrinity2 hr
Nov 1, 5:30 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXMontgomery96 min
Nov 1, 4:08 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXSan Jacinto67 min

Nearby

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