Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 32, NWS Brownsville, TX

May 31, 1997Kenedy County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1997, 6:41 PM CDT for Kenedy 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: May 31, 1997, 6:41 PM CDT (23:41 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1997, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Kenedy County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:40 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 94 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: 1753 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

261 
WUUS1 KBRO 312342 RRA
SVRBRO
TXC261-TXZ512-010045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
641 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745
PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS....

IN SOUTHERN TEXAS

   ...KENEDY COUNTY

INCLUDING THE MARINE INTERESTS IN THE COASTAL WATERS AROUND...

   ...<<BAFFIN BAY>>
 
AT 637 PM...BROWNSVILLE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER
THE EXTREME SOUTHERN PORTION OF BAFFIN BAY. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WAS DRIFTING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AND SHOULD BE PASSING OVER NORTHERN
KENEDY COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS DURING THE NEXT HOUR.
 
BOATERS SHOULD SEEK SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY.  BOATS IN PORT SHOULD
NOT VENTURE OUT UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 31, 2:21 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:21 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
215 PM CDT SAT MAY 31 1997

FRONT HAS WEAKENED CONSIDERABLY AS IT MAKES ITS WAY INTO DEEP S.
TEXAS.  SURFACE WINDS VERY LIGHT AHEAD OF AND BEHIND WHAT BNDY IS
OUT THERE.  ONLY INDICATION OF BNDY IS ON LATEST 4KM VIS WHICH AT
18Z INDICATED A FINE LINE THRU CENT ZAPATA CNTY SOUTHEASTWRD THRU
STAR CNTY.  SURE ENUF...MCCOOK COOP OBS CALLED TO NOTE WINDSHIFT TO
NW AROUND 2PM CDT.  VERY WEAK SHWR ACTIVITY SHOWING UP ON KBRO 88D
BUT QUICKLY FALLING APART.  LATEST SFC RUC SHOWING LITTLE IN THE WAY
OF SUSTAINED AREAS OF SFC CONVERGENCE. UPPER DYNAMICS ARE ALSO WEAK
WITH SLIGHT MID LEVEL DRYING AND SUBSIDENSE WARMING INDICATED ON
NGM AND ETA THRU TODAY. SFC HIGH HAS BUILT INTO EXTREME WEST
TEXAS...LEAVING LITTLE PUSH INTO OUR AREA. SEA BREEZE HAS STARTED UP
JUST SOUTH OF BRO IN MEX SO MAY SEE A CONCENTRATION OF SHWR ACTIVITY
IF SB MOVES FAR ENOUGH WESTWARD TO INTERACT WITH THE FRONTAL BNDY.
WHAT DEVELOPS SHOULD BE JUST RAINERS.  ALL IN ALL...DESPITE WARM
AND HUMID BNDY LAYER...DO NOT EXPECT SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITY WITH THIS
FRONTAL BNDY...CURRENT POPS HANDLE SITUATION WELL FOR REMAINDER OF
LATE AFTERNOON EARLY EVE.

ALL MODELS DRY THINGS OUT TONIGHT THRU MONDAY FOR VERY LITTLE IF ANY
CLOUD COVER AND WARM TEMPS. LIGHT SFC WINDS SHOULD BE CONDUSIVE TO
SB BUT LITTLE PWAT TO WORK WITH. CURRENT FCST TEMPS LOOK GOOD...WILL
LEAN TOWARDS FWC TEMPS. EXTENDED CONTINUES TO SHOW EXTENSIVE UPPER
RIDGE BUILDING THROUGH MID SECTION OF U.S. WITH CWA STILL ON
WESTERN EDGE OF EASTERN TROF SLOWLY LIFTING EASTWARD.  MSTLY SUNNY
DAYS AND PTLY CLDY NIGHTS WITH LITTLE IN THE WAY OF STRONG SFC WIND
THRU THE WEEK.  HURRICANE SEASON COMES IN LIKE A LAMB?  MMMM...

FCST:
TONIGHT... PARLTY CLOUDY.  LOWS UPPER 60S TO NEAR 70. LIGHT NORTH
AND EAST WIND.
SUNDAY... MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS FROM MID 80S EAST TO LO 90S WEST.
EAST WIND NEAR 10 MPH.
SUNDAY NIGHT... FAIR.  LOWSB NEAR 70.
MONDAY... PARTLY CLOUDY AND WARM.  HIGHS UPPER 80S EAST TO MIDDLE
90S WEST.

BRO BB 070/088 071/090 072
MFE BB 070/089 070/093 072
RGC BB 067/093 068/094 070
SPI BB 073/085 074/086 074

53

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.