Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 113, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

July 4, 1996Liberty County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 4, 1996, 6:05 PM CDT for Liberty County, Texas. It was in force for 55 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 4, 1996, 6:05 PM CDT (23:05 UTC)
Expired
Jul 4, 1996, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Liberty County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:09 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 155 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1996-07-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1867 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1996-07-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 39 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
1867 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1050 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 KHOU 042309 COR
SVRHOU
TXC291-050000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
605 PM CDT THU JUL 4 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

   ...LIBERTY COUNTY

AT 605 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR MOSS HILL MOVING WEST-SOUTHWEST AT 20 MPH. THIS STORM
WILL MOVE ACROSS CENTRAL LIBERTY COUNTY JUST TO THE NORTH OF LIBERTY AND
DAYTON OVER THE NEXT HOUR.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN
EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR
BUSINESS.  STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 4, 2:34 PM CDT, 3 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:34 PM CDT, 3 hours 31 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
235 PM CDT THU JUL 4 1996

UPR LVL ENERGY HAS ARRIVED AND PRODUCING SCATTERED TSTMS OVR NE ZONES
ATTM.  EXPECT STORMS TO CONT DEVELOPING AND MOVE SSW ACRS FA INTO THE
EVENING HRS.  THETA-E LAPSE RATE FM SFC TO 500 MB IS NEAR 40 DEGREES
SO EACH STORM WILL BARE WATCHING FOR POTENTIAL DOWNBURST WINDS.
PROBABLY SHUD UP POPS FOR THIS EVENING TO 30% OVR N AND CNTRL ZONES.
FOR FRIDAY...UPR LVL RIDGE TO WEST REMAINS INTACT WITH MDLS SHOWING
SHRT WV ENERGY CONTG TO RIDE DOWN EAST PERIPHERY.  THETA-E RIDGE AND
STRNG POOL OF HIGH PW'S NOTED ACRS E TX WHERE OUTFLOW BNDRYS FM NORTH
AND UPR LVL ENERGY WILL MOST LIKELY TRANSVERSE.  ALL ADDS UP TO GOING
30% POPS FOR AFTN/EVNG TSTMS ALL ZONES ONE MORE TIME ON FRI.  FOR
SAT...LOOKS LIKE RIDGE BLDS SLGTLY EWD AND PUSHES UPR LVL SHRT WVS
FURTHER EAST...MAYBE KEEPING FA OUT OF HARMS WAY.  THEREFORE...FOR
NOW WILL ONLY GO SLGT CHC POPS AND EXPECT CONT HOT TMPS.  STICKING
CLOSE TO PERSISTENCE ON TMPS THRU PERIOD.   PRELIMS FOLLOW.  39

CLL 75/99/75/99 3322    IAH 73/96/75/96 3322    GLS 79/92/79/92 2322

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 4, 4:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk62 min
Jul 4, 5:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk52 min
Jul 4, 5:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHouston64 min
Jul 4, 5:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXSan Jacinto63 min
Jul 4, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXTrinity44 min
Jul 4, 6:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXMontgomery55 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.