Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 8, 1996, 4:17 PM CDT for Frio County, Texas. It was in force for 43 min. 3 reports 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
- May 8, 1996, 4:17 PM CDT (21:17 UTC)
- Expired
- May 8, 1996, 5:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 43 min
- Issued by
- NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Frio County, TX
The radar
The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 4:25 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Pearsall, TX | |
| May 8, 4:50 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Pearsall, TX | |
| May 8, 5:10 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Pearsall, 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
Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 177 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 27 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -466 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1100 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 107 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KSAT 082118 SVRSAT TXC163-082200- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 417 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...FRIO COUNTY AT 415 PM CDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS DETECTED JUST NORTH OF PEARSALL IN FRIO COUNTY. THIS STORM LIKELY CONTAINS LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS. BRIEF HEAVY RAIN CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM ALONG WITH DEADLY LIGHTNING. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OVER 60 MPH. THESE WINDS BLOW DOWN TRE@ES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE MOBILE HOMES... SOMETIMES BUILDINGS. VERY LARGE HAIL CAN INJURE ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE.
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
Special weather statement, May 8, 2:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 42 minutes before
TXZ185>191-203>208-218>220-082030- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 235 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996 AT 225 PM...AN ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED BETWEEN PIPE CREEK AND BOERNE. MOVEMENT WAS NORTH AT 15 MPH. THIS STORM LIKELY CONTAINS GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL. ANOTHER ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR DEVINE...WHILE ISOLATED SHOWERS WERE LOCA2TED FROM BANDERA TO PEARSALL TO SAN ANTONIO. AFTERNOON HEATING IN COMBINATION WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON...A FEW POSSIBLY SEVERE.
Special weather statement, May 8, 3:27 PM CDT, 50 minutes before
TXZ171>173-185>194-203>208-218>221-228>230-082130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 326 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 415 PM FOR MEDINA COUNTY... AT 320 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN WESTERN MEDINA COUNTY JUST NORTH OF CASTROVILLE MOVING NORTH AT 15 TO 20 MPH. OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED FROM HELOTES TO LUCKENBACH AND FROM HONDO SOUTHWARD TO COTULLA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY CONTAIN GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND HAIL. AFTERNOON HEATING IN COMBINATION WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON...A FEW POSSIBLY SEVERE. STAY TUNED TO TV...RADIO OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 3:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Medina | 56 min |
| May 8, 3:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Bandera | 40 min |
| May 8, 4:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Frio | 46 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1996Every 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.