Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 521, NWS Fort Worth, TX

August 11, 1996Collin County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 11, 1996, 8:39 PM CDT for Collin County, Texas. It was in force for 66 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
Aug 11, 1996, 8:39 PM CDT (01:39 UTC)
Expired
Aug 11, 1996, 9:45 PM CDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Collin County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:38 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 11, 8:50 PM CDTThunderstorm WindPlano, TX
Aug 11, 9:14 PM CDTThunderstorm WindFairview, TX
Aug 11, 9:14 PM CDTThunderstorm WindWylie, 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, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 78 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 1996-08-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1167 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-08-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 38 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1167 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1891 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFTW 120139
SVRFTW
TXC085-120245-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
839 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...COLLIN COUNTY
 
AT 839 PM...A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED FROM NEAR ANNA TO
DENTON MOVING SOUTHE SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. SIGNS AND TREES HAVE BEEN
BLOWN DOWN IN DENTON DUE TO STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.
 
THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE WINDS FROM 60 TO 70 MPH AND HAIL UP TO 1 INCH
IN DIAMETER.
 
 
 
&

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 11, 3:55 PM CDT, 4 hours 44 minutes before
TXZ091>095-098>107-115>123-129>135-141-120300-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
354 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 1996

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT FOR A LARGE
PART OF NORTH TEXAS. A FEW OF THE CITIES INCLUDED IN THE SLIGHT RISK
AREA ARE SHERMAN...PARIS...BONHAM...GREENVILLE...DENTON...MINERAL
WELLS...WEATHERFORD AND THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH METROPLEX.

A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND AN ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL
APPROACH FROM THE NORTHWEST EARLY TONIGHT AND RESULT IN A ROUND OF
THUNDERSTORMS. THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALREADY FIRING WITH THESE TWO
FEATURES OVER WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND UPPER LEVEL WINDS SUGGEST THESE
STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AND MOVE SOUTHWARD TOWARD NORTH TEXAS
THIS EVENING.

ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WITH A LAYER OF DRY AIR ALOFT WAS IN
PLACE ACROSS THE RISK AREA. THIS WOULD SUGGEST THE MAIN THREAT FROM
THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND STRONG DOWNBURST WINDS. HOWEVER
....WIND PROFILES ACROSS THE NORTHERN PART OF THE RISK AREA...
ESPECIALLY ALONG THE RED RIVER...ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS AND THUS A HIGHER THREAT FOR TORNADOES.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND STORM SPOTTERS ACROSS THE RED
RIVER COUNTIES FROM MONTAGUE TO PARIS SHOULD BE READY FOR ACTIVATION
BY 8 PM...AREAS NORTH OF AN EASTLAND TO WAXAHACHIE TO CANTON LINE AND
INCLUDING THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH METROPLEX BETWEEN 10 PM AND MIDNIGHT.

CONTINUE TO MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL TV/RADIO STATION
FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS DEVELOPING SEVERE WEATHER
THREAT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 11, 7:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCooke55 min
Aug 11, 7:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDGrayson55 min
Aug 11, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJack61 min
Aug 11, 7:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDenton, Wise65 min
Aug 11, 8:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague30 min
Aug 11, 8:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHaskell, Throckmorton, Young69 min
Aug 11, 8:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDStephens68 min
Aug 11, 9:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDallas, Tarrant60 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.