Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

June 18, 1996Waller County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 18, 1996, 9:56 PM CDT for Waller County, Texas. It was in force for 64 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
Jun 18, 1996, 9:56 PM CDT (02:56 UTC)
Expired
Jun 18, 1996, 11:00 PM CDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Waller County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:57 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 00:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 269 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 00:00Z on 1996-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1037 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 00:00Z on 1996-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 23 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
1037 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1264 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-12 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 190256
TORHOU
TXC473-190400-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
956 PM CDT TUE JUN 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN WALLER COUNTY
 
AT 955 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC
THUNDERSTORM BETWEEN PRAIRIE VIEW AND HEMPSTEAD ALONG HIGHWAY 290. THIS
THUNDERSTORM IS DRIFTING SOUTHWEST AT 5 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO... SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR
ROOM... SUCH AS A CLOSET OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
AVOID WINDOWS AND PROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH
CUSHIONS... BLANKETS... OR PILLOWS.

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 Jun 18, 8:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 8:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
825 PM CDT TUE JUN 18 1996

ONGOING CONVECTION KEEPING US A TAD BUSY TONIGHT.  WOULD EXPECT THIS
ACTIVITY TO DIMINISH SHORTLY WIH THE LOSS OF HEATING.  QUICK LOOK AT
THE NEWEST STUFF WOULD INDICATE A REPEAT FOR TOMORROW.  AS PER COOR-
DINATION WITH KEWX...WOULD LIKE AN "ENDING BY MIDNIGHT" WORDING WITH
THIS STUFF.  OTRWS...NO OTHER CHANGES TO CURRENT PACKAGE.  41

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 7:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHarris, Montgomery45 min
Jun 18, 8:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXHarris50 min
Jun 18, 9:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXWaller60 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.