Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 24, 1996Matagorda County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 24, 1996, 2:55 PM CDT for Matagorda County, Texas. It was in force for 65 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, 2:55 PM CDT (19:55 UTC)
Expired: Oct 24, 1996, 4:00 PM CDT
In force: 65 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, 7.9 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.

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: 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

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 Oct 24, 2:35 PM CDT, 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 24, 2:35 PM CDT, 20 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 24, 11:39 AM CDT, 3 hours 16 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, 2 hours 10 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, 1:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Matagorda	59 min
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

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.