Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 23, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 1996, 8:14 PM CDT for Freestone County, Texas. It was in force for 46 min. 2 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
- Apr 28, 1996, 8:14 PM CDT (01:14 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 1996, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 46 min
- Issued by
- NWS Fort Worth, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Freestone County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 8:22 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Young, TX | |
| Apr 28, 8:25 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Fairfield, 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, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 165 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 838 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -27 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 186 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 9.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFTW 290115 TORFTW TXC161-290200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 814 PM CDT SUN APR 28 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...FREESTONE COUNTY AT 814 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER FAIRFIELD LAKE...8 MILES NORTHEAST OF THE CITY OF FAIRFIELD. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 28, 3:44 PM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before
TXZ095>097-105>112-121>126-135>138-146>153-158>167-174-175-290215- NORTH TEXAS SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 330 PM CDT SUN APR 28 1996 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR THAT PART OF NORTH TEXAS GENERALLY EAST OF A PARIS TO KAUFMAN TO WACO TO KILLEEN LINE. SOME OF THE CITIES INCLUDED IN THE RISK AREA ARE TYLER...LONGVIEW...LUFKIN AND MARSHALL. THE MAIN THREATS FROM SEVERE STORMS TODAY AND TONIGHT WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE TORNADO THREAT WILL BE SMALL. THUNDERSTORMS...SOME SEVERE...COULD DEVELOP BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON ALONG AND AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT THAT IS MOVING THROUGH NORTH TEXAS. AT 4 PM THE FRONT WAS LOCATED NEAR A BONHAM TO ROCKWALL TO HILLSBORO TO GATESVILLE SOUTHWESTWARD LINE. BY EARLY TONIGHT THE FRONT SHOULD EXTEND ALONG A CLARKSVILLE TO ATHENS TO GROSEBECK TO CAMERON LINE. AROUND MIDNIGHT THE FRONT SHOULD BE NEAR A TEXARKANA TO LONGVIEW TO CROCKETT LINE AND BE THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF NORTH TEXAS BY SUNRISE MONDAY. A NEGATIVE FACTOR FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES TO BE A STRONG TEMPERATURE INVERSION...OR CAP...OVER THE AREA AT AROUND 7000 TO 9000 FT. ANY THUNDERSTORMS...ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...THAT BREAK THROUGH THE CAP...SHOULD RAPIDLY INTENSIFY DUE TO THE VERY UNSTABLE NATURE OF THE AIR MASS ABOVE THE CAP. AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE THE LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DECREASE SIGNIFICANTLY AS THE COLD AIR BUILDS INTO THE REGION AND THE AIRMASS BECOMES MORE STABLE. A SECONDARY UPPER AIR DISTURBANCE IS MOVING INTO THE SOUTH CENTRAL PART OF NORTH TEXAS AND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST. THE DISTURBANCE SHOULD BE STRONG ENOUGH TO OVERCOME THE CAP AND WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER EAST TEXAS TONIGHT. SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS IN CENTRAL TEXAS EAST OF THE COLD FRONT SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION THROUGH THIS EVENING. THOSE IN EAST TEXAS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION BY EARLY TONIGHT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 7:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Navarro | 69 min |
| Apr 28, 7:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Falls | 50 min |
| Apr 28, 7:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Freestone | 55 min |
| Apr 28, 7:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Limestone | 62 min |
| Apr 28, 8:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Robertson | 66 min |
| Apr 28, 8:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Anderson | 58 min |
| Apr 28, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Leon | 68 min |
| Apr 28, 9:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Milam | 62 min |
| Apr 28, 9:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Anderson | 60 min |
| Apr 28, 9:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Fannin, Lamar | 57 min |
| Apr 28, 11:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Hill | 49 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.