Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 142, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

September 20, 1996Caldwell County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 20, 1996, 10:31 PM CDT for Caldwell County, Texas. It was in force for 59 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Sep 20, 1996, 10:31 PM CDT (03:31 UTC)
Expired: Sep 20, 1996, 11:30 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Caldwell County, TX

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:33 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Sep 20, 10:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Mustang Ridge, TX

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 236 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: 234 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -264 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1539 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -7 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 KSAT 210334
SVRSAT
TXC055-210430-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1031 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...CALDWELL COUNTY
 
AT 1030 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING INTO NORTHERN CALDWELL
COUNTY NEAR MENDOZA. THIS STORM IS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL
AFFECT THE TOWNS OF LOCKHART...MAXWELL AND LULING WITHIN THE HOUR.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE POSSIBILITY
OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.  FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN CAN ALSO OCCUR WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...FLOODING SMALL
STREAMS...LOW AREAS...AND LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
ALTHOUGH NO TORNADOES HAVE BEEN DETECTED WITH THIS STORM...A
TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING
SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 20, 8:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED FOR TIME/DATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TEXAS
845 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996

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

720  PM    CASSIE                    TX   FUNNEL CLOUD OVER LAKE
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORT FROM SHERIFF.

809  PM    SMITHWICK                 TX   TORNADO
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORTED BY PUBLIC VIA MEDIA

1130 PM    GEORGETOWN                TX   FLOODING
09/19/96   WILLIANSAON                    STREET FLOODING.

1155 PM    GEORGETOWN                TX   1.75 HAIL
09/19/96   WILLIAMSON                     REPORTED BY DPS.

1215 AM    GEORGETOWN                TX   WIND DAMAGE
09/20/96   WILLIAMSON                     NUMEROUS TREES BLOWN DOWN.

1215 AM    GEORGETOWN                TX   FLOODING
09/20/96   WILLIAMSON                     MORE STREET FLOODING.

1217 AM    LAGO VISTA                TX   1.00 HAIL
09/20/96   TRAVIS                         REPORTED BY DPS.

0100 AM    AUSTIN                    TX   .75 HAIL
09/20/96   TRAVIS                         TRAVIS COUNTY SHRIFF.

0135 AM    BASTROP                   TX   .75 HAIL
09/20/96   BASTROP                        REPORTED BY DPS.

0135 AM    BASTROP                   TX   FLOODING
09/20/96   BASTROP                        1 FT OF WATER ON ROADS.

0200 AM    HORSESHOE BAY             TX   WIND DAMAGE
09/20/96   BURNET                         MINOR ROOF DAMAGE.

0200 AM    MARBLE FALLS              TX   FLOODING
09/20/96   BURNET                         FLOODING ON ALL LOW WATER
                                          CROSSINGS.

0220 AM    LOCKHART                  TX   WIND DAMAGE
09/20/96   CALDWELL                       TREES BLOWN DOWN.

0400 AM    GONZALES                  TX   FLOODING
09/20/96   GONZALES                       HEAVY STREET FLOODING.
:

Local storm report, Sep 20, 8:47 PM CDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TEXAS
845 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996

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

720  PM    CASSIE                    TX   FUNNEL CLOUD OVER LAKE
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORT FROM SHERIFF.

809  PM    SMITHWICK                 TX   TORNADO
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORT<ED BY PUBLIC VIA MEDIA

Local storm report, Sep 20, 9:35 PM CDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TEXAS
935 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996

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

720  PM    CASSIE                    TX   FUNNEL CLOUD OVER LAKE
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORT FROM SHERIFF.

809  PM    SMITHWICK                 TX   TORNADO
09/20/96   BURNET                         REPORTED BY PUBLIC VIA MEDIA

855  PM    LAGO VISTA                TX   TORNADO
09/20/96   TRAVIS                         REPORTED BY POLICE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 20, 7:46 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EWX	Travis, Williamson	3 hr
Sep 20, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Travis, Williamson	3 hr
Sep 20, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Burnet	64 min
Sep 20, 8:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EWX	Burnet, Travis	57 min
Sep 20, 8:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EWX	Travis	64 min
Sep 20, 9:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Hays	59 min
Sep 20, 9:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Bastrop, Lee	117 min
Sep 20, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Hays	65 min
Sep 20, 10:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Comal, Guadalupe	55 min
Sep 21, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Lavaca	52 min
Sep 21, 12:09 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	EWX	Lavaca	51 min
Sep 21, 12:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	EWX	DeWitt	65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.