Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 28, NWS Brownsville, TX

May 27, 1997Brooks County, Jim Hogg County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1997, 11:28 PM CDT for Brooks County, Jim Hogg County, Texas. It was in force for 62 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: May 27, 1997, 11:28 PM CDT (04:28 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1997, 12:30 AM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Brooks County, TX, Jim Hogg County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:32 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
May 27, 11:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Guerra, TX
May 28, 12:15 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Hebbronville, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 27, 10:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 165 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: 4398 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 706 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

329 
WUUS1 KBRO 280429 RRA
SVRBRO
TXC047-247-280530-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
1128 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN SOUTH TEXAS
 
   ...BROOKS COUNTY...SOUTHERN JIM-HOGG COUNTY
 
BROWNSVILLE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN AREA OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER
JIM HOGG AND WESTERN BROOKS COUNTIES IN DEEP SOUTH TEXAS. THIS AREA WAS
MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Brownsville, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 27, 8:25 PM CDT, 3 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 8:25 PM CDT, 3 hours 3 minutes before

DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
825 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997

BROWNSVILLE DOPPLER RADAR INDCTS AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
JUST TO THE NORTHWEST OF THE CWA OF BRO.  THIS AREA HAS POTENTIAL
OF MOVING THROUGH THE AREA LATER THIS EVENING IF THE THUNDERSTORMS
DO NOT DISSIPATE BEFORE IT REACHES THE VALLEY.  A 20 PERCENT CHANCE
IS GOOD FOR RIGHT NOW...IT MAY HAVE TO BE UPDATED IF THIS AREA MOVES
SOUTHWARD.  BEARS WATCHING AT THIS TIME.  NO UPDATES ARE NEEDED AT
THIS MOMENT.

55

The office that day

Everything else NWS Brownsville, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Brooks, Jim Hogg, Starr, Zapata	67 min
May 27, 11:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Jim Hogg	55 min
May 27, 11:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Starr	63 min
May 28, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Brooks, Hidalgo	67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.