Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

September 18, 1996Washington County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 1996, 10:12 PM CDT for Washington County, Texas. It was in force for 48 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: Sep 18, 1996, 10:12 PM CDT (03:12 UTC)
Expired: Sep 18, 1996, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Washington County, TX

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:20 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
Sep 18, 10:16 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Burton, 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 291 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 2537 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 860 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 74 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Sep 18, 8:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 18, 8:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 18, 4:25 PM CDT, 5 hours 47 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Sep 18, 9:19 PM CDT, 53 minutes before

TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-191200-

SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAINFALL OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
910 PM CDT WED SEP 18 1996

THERE IS THE THREAT TONIGHT OF SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAINFALL
ACROSS THE NORTH AND WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE REGION MAINLY NORTH AND
WEST OF A LIVINGSTON...CONROE...PRAIRIE VIEW...WHARTON LINE.

AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF
THE REGION WILL COMBINE WITH A VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE TO
PRODUCE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WHICH MAY BECOME SEVERE...
ADDITIONALLY LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS WILL POSE A THREAT AS WELL.  THE
MAJORITY OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FOCUSED ALONG COOL THUNDERSTORM
OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES AND A WEAK COLD FRONT FROM NEAR WACO TO THE
COLLEGE STATION AREA.  IN THE STRONGER STORMS RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS
OF AROUND 1 INCH CAN BE EXPECTED...WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT OF SEVERE
WEATHER BEING DAMAGING WINDS.

ON THURSDAY THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL
CONTINUE WITH AN ADDED MECHANISM THE SEA BREEZE FRONT MOVING ONSHORE
DURING THE MORNING. ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS WILL FOLLOW EARLY THURSDAY
MORNING AS MORE DATA BECOME AVAILABLE.

EMERGvENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND STORM SPOTTERS ARE URGED TO
MONITOR THIS SITUATION CLOSELY.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS SOURCES FOR MORE
INFORMATION ON THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 18, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Walker	64 min
Sep 18, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazos, Madison	57 min
Sep 18, 9:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Burleson, Washington	63 min
Sep 18, 10:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	San Jacinto	63 min
Sep 18, 10:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Austin	55 min
Sep 19, 12:06 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Harris	3 hr
Sep 19, 2:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Galveston	60 min
Sep 19, 2:48 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Harris	57 min
Sep 19, 5:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston, Trinity	49 min
Sep 19, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto	45 min
Sep 19, 5:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Polk, Trinity	46 min
Sep 19, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk, San Jacinto	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.