Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

August 11, 1996Montgomery County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Aug 11, 1996, 5:06 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Texas. It was in force for 69 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: Aug 11, 1996, 5:06 PM CDT (22:06 UTC)
Expired: Aug 11, 1996, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 69 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Montgomery County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:07 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
Aug 11, 5:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Conroe, 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 222 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: 2063 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 665 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 118 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 112211
TORHOU
TXC339-112315-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON TX
506 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
AT 507 PM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES SOUTH
SOUTHEAST OF CONROE OR 10 MILES WEST OF SPLENDORA. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE
EAST AT 15 MPH. SPLENDORA 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 Aug 11, 2:32 PM CDT, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 11, 2:32 PM CDT, 2 hours 34 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
232 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 1996

TSTMS AT 2 PM BEGINNING TO LIGHT UP AN OLD BOUNDARY ALONG LINE FRM
AUS TO CLL.  TO E OF CLL... WIDELY SCT CONVECTION IS GETTING
UNDERWAY... BUT NOT AS DEEP OR RAPID DUE TO MIXING FROM EARLIER RAINS
AND DUE TO LOWER TEMPS FROM OVC SKIES.  OVER THE SW PTN OF FA...
LATE AFTN SEABREEZE CONFLUENCE IS JUST BEGINNING TO SET UP FRM VCNTY
GLS WWD TO MATAGORDA BAY... AND MAY HAVE STORMS FIRING ALONG THIS
BOUNDARY IN THE NEXT HOUR OR SO.  ALL IN ALL... SAME KIND OF THING WE
HAVE SEEN OVR THE RGN FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS... AND EXPECTED TO
LIKEWISE CONT INTO EVENING... WITH E-W LINE OF CONVECTION FRM AUS TO
NR POE KICKING OFF SWD MOVING OUTFLOWS WHICH WILL KEEP CONVECTION
ROLLING UNTIL AFTR DARK.  ERN PTN OF POLK COUNTY GOT 3-4 INCHES PCPN
LAST NIGHT AND MAY BE IN THE WAY OF SOME OF THIS CONVECTION AND
POSSIBLY BE AT RISK OF SOME MONOR FLOODING.  BUT SINCE THAT IS ONLY
RGN OF FA LIKELY TO BE AT RISK UNLESS SIGNIFICANT TRAINING ALONG A
BOUNDARY SHOULD SET UP... DO NOT BELIEVE WHOLESALE FFA IS WARRANTED
FOR N PTN OF FA.  IN BROADER PICTURE... UPPER FLOW BCMG MORE NLY OVR
NCNTRL TX AND S/W THAT SPC IS THINKING ABOUT LEADING W/ BOX ATTM (IN
OK) IS PROGGED TO PUSH SWD ALL THE WAY INTO SE TX BY ABOUT 20 HOURS.
HENCE WILL JUST HAVE ANOTHER DETAIL TO EXACERBATE THE SITUATION.  I
HAVE GENERALLY GONE WITH DOUBLE BARRELED PCPN THREAT IN AVN FORECASTS
DUE TO THIS SCENARIO... WITH AFTN/EVE CONVECTION FOLLOWED IN ANOTHER
BOUT IN WEE HOURS.  ATMOS GRADUALLY DRYING OUT AFT MON AFTN...
ALTHOUGH PESKY H5 TROF AND STALLED OUT SFC FNT TAKING UP RESIDENCE
INTO MID WEEK OVR RGN...  AND DESTABILIZING EFFECTS WILL WARRANT SOME
MENTION OF PCPN POTENTIAL.

PRELIMINARIES...

CLL 75/96 74/97 5432
IAH 74/90 74/93 5532
GLS 76/90 78/91 5532

38

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 11, 2:48 PM CDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...FOR SAT AUG 10 1996 STORMS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON
244 PM CDT SUN AUG 11 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0644 PM    TOMBALL                   TX   58 MPH TSTM GUST
08/10/96   HARRIS                         SPOTTER REPORTED 50 KNOT
                                          WINDS.

0825 PM    HOUSTON                   TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/10/96   HARRIS                         HOUSTON EOC REPORTED TREES
                                          BLOWN DOWN.  KEY MAP
                                          LOCATION 374M.

0830 PM    HOUSTON                   TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/10/96   HARRIS                         HOUSTON EOC REPORTED TREES
                                          BLOWN DOWN.  KEY MAP
                                          LOCATION 453W.

0833 PM    HOUSTON                   TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/10/96   HARRIS                         HOUSTON EOC REPORTED TREES
                                          BLOWN DOWN NEAR THE
                                          MEDICAL CENTER AND ALSO AT
                                          4000 S. SHEPPARD AND HWY
                                          59.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 10, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Harris	67 min
Aug 11, 4:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazos	63 min
Aug 11, 5:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris, Liberty	61 min
Aug 11, 5:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	63 min
Aug 11, 6:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Chambers	55 min
Aug 11, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	63 min
Aug 11, 6:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Fort Bend	59 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.