Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 29, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 24, 1996, 1:01 PM CDT for Matagorda County, Texas. It was in force for 59 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
- Oct 24, 1996, 1:01 PM CDT (18:01 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 24, 1996, 2:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 59 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Matagorda County, TX
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 176 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
- 122 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -54 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 617 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 127 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 279 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 241802 TORHOU TXC321-241900- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 101 PM CDT THU OCT 24 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...MATAGORDA COUNTY AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS AT 101 PM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OMATAGORDA. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST NEAR 20 MPH. MATAGORDA IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
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 Oct 24, 9:35 AM CDT, 3 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 24, 9:35 AM CDT, 3 hours 26 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 925 AM CDT THU OCT 24 1996 HGX 88-D SHOWING RW- FORMING OVER CSTL WTRS AND MOVING NNE INTO CSTL COUNTIES. LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS WRM FNT BTWN CRP AND PSX AND EXTENDING EAST INTO GLF OF MEX. LOW LVL MSTR SHOULD CONT TO INCR DURG DAY AS SHORT WAVE APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. THINKING IS TODAYS EVENT WILL BE MOST RAIN WITH TSTMS STAYING BELOW SVR LIMITS. KEEP HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK FOR SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF SE TX AS MAIN THREAT WILL BE LATE THIS AFTN AND TONIGHT. WITH PCPN ALREADY MOVING INLAND MIGHT INCRS POPS TO 80 ALG CST ZONES. 34
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Oct 24, 11:39 AM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before
TXZ177>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-242100- HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX 1140 AM CDT THU OCT 24 1996 THERE IS A THREAT OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL FOR PORTIONS OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...GENERALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF A COLLEGE STATION TO HUNTSVILLE TO LIVINGSTON LINE. SOME OTHER CITIES INCLUDED IN THE OUTLOOK AREA ARE HOUSTON...WHARTON...RICHMOND...LIBERTY...BAY CITY...ANGLETON... BRENHAM...CALDWELL AND GALVESTON. A WARM FRONT LOCATED FROM CORPUS CHRISTI TO PALACIOS AND EAST INTO THE GULF WILL MOVE TO THE NORTH AND PULL UP ACROSS THE COASTAL SECTIONS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL OVERRUN THE FRONT...SPREADING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AREA DURING THE DAY. A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL RIPPLE OVER SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ENHANCING THE CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE LATE EVENING HOURS. AMPLE GULF MOISTURE COUPLED WITH SLOW MOVING AND REDEVELOPING STORMS COULD PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 3 INCHES OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE. THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE HEAVIER RAINS IS DEPENDENT ON WHERE THE FRONT BECOMES STATIONARY. THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER EVENT WILL BE CLOSELY MONITORED FOR THE POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF A FLASH FLOOD WATCH LATER TODAY. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS SHOULD BE READY FOR POSSIBLE FLOODING LATER TODAY AND E*ARLY TONIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS SOURCES FOR CONTINUED UPDATES.
Special weather statement, Oct 24, 12:45 PM CDT, 16 minutes before
TXZ199-200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-250045- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1245 PM CDT THU OCT 24 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS EFFECTIVE UNTIL 7 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES: JACKSON...MATAGORDA...BRAZORIA...GALVESTON...CHAMBERS... WHARTON...FORT BEND...HARRIS...LIBERTY...COLORADO...AUSTIN...WALLER... MONTGOMERY...AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS. REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES TO DEVELOP IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THE WATCH ARE URGED TO FOLLOW THE LATEST WEATHER DEVELOPMENTS AND BE PREPARED TO SEEK SHELTER SHOULD SEVERE STORMS THREATEN. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...RADIO OR TELEVISION FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 24, 1:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Matagorda | 64 min |
| Oct 24, 2:30 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Matagorda | 2 hr |
| Oct 24, 2:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Matagorda | 65 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.