Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 90, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

August 8, 1996Williamson County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 1996, 7:54 PM CDT for Williamson County, Texas. It was in force for 36 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
Aug 8, 1996, 7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 1996, 8:30 PM CDT
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Williamson County, TX

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 22 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:53 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 8, 8:05 PM CDTHail 1Taylor, 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 245 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1996-08-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 745 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1996-08-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
745 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-98 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1263 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-16 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 090055
SVRSAT
TXC491-090130-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
754 PM CDT THU AUG 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...WILLIAMSON COUNTY
 
AT 754 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR TAYLOR
MOVING WEST AT 20 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WIND.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OVER 60 MPH.  THESE WINDS
BLOW DOWN TREES...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, Aug 8, 7:44 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-090115-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
721 PM CDT THU AUG 8 1996

AS AUGUST OF 1996 BEGINS...THE HOT WEATHER THAT HAS PREVAILED IN JUNE
AND JULY WILL CONTINUE OVER THE HILL COUNTRY AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
TODAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND...AS A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE ALOFT TO THE WEST
AND NORTHWEST OF THE AREA CONTINUES TO AFFECT OUR WEATHER REGIME.

IN JULY THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 86.7 FOR AUSTIN WAS 2.2 DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL...87.3 FOR SAN ANTONIO WAS 2.3 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL
AND 89.2 FOR DEL RIO WAS 4.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.  THIS WAS THE 3RD
WARMEST JULY FOR SAN ANTONIO...4TH WARMEST FOR DEL RIO AND 7TH
WARMEST FOR AUSTIN.

AFTERNOON HIGHS ARE EXPECTED TO BE NEAR 100 TO 102 OVER THE HILL COUNTRY
AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY AND FRIDAY WITH...NEAR 100 TO 103 NEAR
DEL RIO TODAY AND NEAR 102 TO 104 AROUND DEL RIO FRIDAY.

SINCE JUNE 1ST...THE NUMBER OF 100 DEGREE DAYS HAS BEEN 34 FOR
DEL RIO...16 FOR SAN ANTONIO AND 10 FOR AUSTIN.

EVEN THOUGH SOME ADJUSTMENT TO THE HOT SUMMER WEATHER HAS OCCURRED/OR
MAY NOT HAVE OCCURRED THIS SUMMER...THE CHALLENGES OF LONG EXPOSURE TO
OUTDOOR WORK OR ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE THE NEXT FEW DAYS...AS AFTERNOON
HIGHS CLIMB TO NEAR THE CENTURY MARK.  LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING...HATS...
WATER AND OCCASIONAL SHADE PLUS BREAKS...WILL BE ONE OF THE BEST OR
BETTER TOOLS FOR OUTDOOR WORK OR ACTIVITY.

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.