Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

September 18, 1996Victoria County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 1996, 10:59 AM CDT for Victoria County, Texas. It was in force for 31 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 18, 1996, 10:59 AM CDT (15:59 UTC)
Expired: Sep 18, 1996, 11:30 AM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Victoria County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:02 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 12:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 124 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: 3593 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 567 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 181559
TORCRP
TXC469-181630-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1059 AM CDT WED SEP 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...VICTORIA COUNTY
 
AT 1055 AM CDT A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS SPOTTED BY THE VICTORIA
POLICE DEPARTMENT 2 MILES TO THE NORTH OF VICTORIA CROSSING U.S.
HIGHWAY 77.  MOVEMENT WAS TO THE WEST NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR 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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Sep 18, 9:43 AM CDT, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 18, 9:43 AM CDT, 1 hour 16 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
943 AM CDT WED SEP 18 1996

SHOWERS AND TSTMS ALREADY UNDER WAY BETWEEN CRP AND VCT.  PRECIP
WILL CONTINUE DUE TO SEVERAL FACTORS...DIFFLUENT UPPER FLOW...
SEA-BREEZE FRONT...DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE OUT OF MEXICO AND INTO
TEXAS LATER TODAY.  CRP MORNING SOUNDING VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE
WITH A PW OF 2.27 INCHES...LI OF -9 AND CAPE OF 4500.  ALL THIS
POINTS TO THE POTENTIAL FORz HEAVY RAIN ESPECIALLY FOR THE VCT AREA.
WILL INSERT LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN VCT AREA AND INCREASE POPS TO 50
PERCENT.  REST OF PACKAGE LOOKS GOOD WITH NO OTHER CHNGES NEEDED
AT THIS TIME.

LUNA...0074

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 18, 9:22 AM CDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
920 AM CDT WED SEP 18 1996   ...CORRECTED TYPE OF REPORT

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

605 PM     TYNAN                     TX   TORNADO.
09/16/96   BEE                            SPOTTER AND PUBLIC REPORT
                                          OF A TORNADO WITH WIND
                                          DAMAGE TO SEVERAL AREA TREES.

630 PM     MATHIS                    TX   60 MPH WIND GUST.
09/16/96   SAN PATRICIO                   NWS SKYWARN SPOTTER ESTIMATE
                                          OF THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST
                            :              WITH REPORT OF A CONTINUOUS
                                          ROARING SOUND.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 18, 2:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Goliad	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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.