Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 47, NWS Fort Worth, TX

September 20, 1996Lamar County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Sep 20, 1996, 5:39 PM CDT for Lamar County, Texas. It was in force for 36 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
Sep 20, 1996, 5:39 PM CDT (22:39 UTC)
Expired
Sep 20, 1996, 6:15 PM CDT
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Lamar County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 202 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:41 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
Sep 20, 5:55 PM CDTHail 0.75Brookston, TX
Sep 20, 6:01 PM CDTHail 1.5Paris, 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 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 185 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 141 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 135 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
141 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-172 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
654 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
145 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFTW 202242
TORFTW
TXC277-202315-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
539 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...LAMAR COUNTY
 
...TORNADO WARNING IS EXPANDED TO INCLUDE THE REMAINDER OF THE COUNTY...
 
AT 539 PM...A TORNADIC STORM WAS LOCATED 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF PARIS
MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.  PARIS IS IN THE DIRECT PATH OF THIS
STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND COVE|R YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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

Local storm report, Sep 20, 5:30 PM CDT, 9 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
515 PM CDT FRI SEP 20 1996

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

0325 PM    8 S PALO PINTO            TX   1 INCH HAIL
09/20/96   PALO PINTO

0345 PM    CHICOTA                   TX   .75 INCH HAIL
09/20/96   LAMAR

0345 PM    CHICOTA                   TX   WIND DAMAGE
09/20/96   LAMAR                          TREES DOWNED

0350 PM    6 NE GORDON               TX   .75 INCH HAIL
09/20/96   PALO PINTO

0410 PM    HUCKABAY                  TX   .88 INCH HAIL
09/20/96   ERATH

0435 PM    12 E MERIDIAN             TX   .75 INCH HAIL
09/20/96   BOSQUE

0440 PM    3 N WHITNEY               TX   WIND DAMAGE
09/2v0/96   HILL                           WINDOWS BLOWN OUT OF HOUSE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 19, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCoryell53 min
Sep 19, 8:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDBell, Coryell57 min
Sep 19, 9:07 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDBell, Coryell38 min
Sep 19, 9:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMcLennan66 min
Sep 19, 9:43 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDBell32 min
Sep 19, 9:58 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDFalls, McLennan47 min
Sep 19, 10:12 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDBell33 min
Sep 19, 10:47 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDFalls43 min
Sep 19, 11:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMilam63 min
Sep 20, 12:22 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDNavarro53 min
Sep 20, 12:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDVan Zandt63 min
Sep 20, 2:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDPalo Pinto62 min
Sep 20, 3:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDErath55 min
Sep 20, 3:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLamar49 min
Sep 20, 4:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDErath59 min
Sep 20, 4:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDBosque, Falls, Hill, McLennan68 min
Sep 20, 4:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLampasas37 min
Sep 20, 4:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDJohnson41 min
Sep 20, 4:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin61 min
Sep 20, 5:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHamilton68 min
Sep 20, 5:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDBosque, Hill, McLennan60 min
Sep 20, 5:20 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDFannin, Lamar40 min
Sep 20, 6:11 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDLamar34 min
Sep 20, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCoryell, Hamilton62 min
Sep 20, 6:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMilam56 min
Sep 20, 6:39 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDBosque66 min
Sep 20, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDBosque66 min
Sep 20, 6:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLampasas55 min
Sep 20, 6:59 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDCoryell2 hr
Sep 20, 6:59 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFWDMilam2 hr

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.