Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 20, 1996, 7:41 PM CDT for Jackson County, Texas. It was in force for 49 min. 2 reports 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
- Jun 20, 1996, 7:41 PM CDT (00:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 20, 1996, 8:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Jackson County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 156 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 7:54 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Edna, TX | |
| Jun 20, 8:06 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Morales, 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, 0.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1187 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -196 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1312 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 49 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 175 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 210043 TORHOU TXC239-210130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX 741 PM CDT THU JUN 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 830 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...JACKSON COUNTY AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS AT 740 PM... DOPPLER RADAT INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF MORALES MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 30 MPH. THIS STORM WAS ABOUT TO MERGE WITH ANOTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORM AND IS EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY AS IT NEARS THE MORALES AREA. 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 Jun 20, 2:33 PM CDT, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 2:33 PM CDT, 5 hours 8 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 232 PM CDT WED JUN 19 1996 UPR VORT MAX SPINNING OVR NR THE LA/TX GLF CST. LOOKS LIKE THE VORT IS A BIT FURTHER WEST THAN THE MODELS SUGGEST IT SHUD BE. ETA FCST SHOWS THE VORT DRIFTING SOUTH...WITH AN H3 LOW OVR THE WRN GLF THRU MUCH OF THE 48 HR PD. H5 ETA FCST SHOWS THE BEST VORT AREAS MOVG S OF THE FCST AREA BY THIS EVE...THO THE CSTL COUNTIES LOOK TO HAVE SCT CONV THRU FRI. BEST CLD COVER ALSO LOOKS TO BE ALONG THE CSTL COUNTIES WITH LEAST CLD COVER WELL INLAND. TEMPS WL THUS REFLECT THIS...THO DO NO BELIEVE THE CLL AREA WL BE AS HI FRI AS THE TEMPS HAVE REACHED TODAY. ANOTHER ITEM FOR THE CLL AREA...ALTHO THE HEAT INDEX HAS REACHED TO AROUND 110...THE LOW TEMPS WL BE BLO HEAT ADV CRITERIA. SO WL NOT PUT OUT A HEAT ADV THERE. TEMPS SHUD BE BLO 100 THERE ON FRI...WITH THE HEAT INDEX A BIT LWR AS WELL. FOR TSTM CHCS TONGT...SOME MAY REACH SVR LEVELS EARLY THIS EVE AS ENERGY WRAPS AROUND THE VORT MAX AND PUSHES INTO SETX. BELIEVE PCPN CAT/S SHUD RANGE FM ISOL CHCS IN THE CLL AREA TO GOOD CHCS NR THE CST (ABT 20 PERCENT TO 50 PERCENT). THIS TREND SHUD CONT FRI WITH POPS MAYBE DOWN 10 (PERCENT FM TONIGHT. ...40... PRELIMS... CLL 77/98 2/2 IAH 75/91 4/4 GLS 78/87 5/4
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jun 20, 2:15 PM CDT, 5 hours 26 minutes before
TXZ163-176-177-195>198-210-211-226-210015- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX 215 PM CDT THU JUN 20 1996 ...HEAT INDEX 105 TO 110 EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS... PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS EAST AND SOUTH OF A LIVINGSTON TO CONROE TO WHARTON TO PALACIOS HAVE RECEIVED SOME WELL NEEDED RAINFALL TODAY ALONG WITH SOMEHWAT COOLER TEMPERATURES. AREAS TO THE NORTHWEST INCLUDING HUNTSVILLE...COLLEGE STATION...BRENHAM AND COLUMBUS HOWEVER CONTINUE TO BAKE UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES AND HOT AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES. TEMPERATURES EARLY THIS AFTERNOON ARE IN THE MID 90S AND WILL CONTINUE TO RISE INTO THE UPPER 90S AND NEAR 100. HEAT INDEXES ARE ALSO ON THE RISE WITH EARLY AFTERNOON READINGS RANGING FROM 100 TO 110 AND BY LATE AFTEROON WILL REACH 105 TO 115. THE HEAT INDEX IS A MEASURE OF THE ACTUAL TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDIY GIVING YOU A TEMPERATURE THAT REPRESENTS WHAT THE TEMPERATURE REALLY FEELS LIKE. WHEN HEAT INDICES EXCEED 105 DEGREES IT BEGINS TO AFFECT PEOPLES OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES EXPECIALLY OLDER PEOPLE. WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT...LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING SINCE IT REFLECTS HEAT AND SUNLIGHT AND HELPS YOUR BODY STAY COOLER.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 7:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Wharton | 60 min |
| Jun 20, 7:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Jackson | 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.