Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 73, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

June 17, 1997Jim Wells County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 17, 1997, 5:24 PM CDT for Jim Wells County, Texas. It was in force for 66 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 17, 1997, 5:24 PM CDT (22:24 UTC)
Expired: Jun 17, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Jim Wells County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:25 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 17, 5:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Orange Grove, TX	Sheriff and public report of strong thunderstorm wind.
Jun 17, 6:20 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Orange Grove, TX	Sheriff and public report of tennis ball sized hail.

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
Jun 17, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 74 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: 2899 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -76 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 585 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 126 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 8.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 172228 RRA
SVRCRP
TXC249-172330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
524 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN JIM WELLS COUNTY
 
AT 530PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO JIM
WELLS COUNTY FROM SOUTHERN LIVE OAK COUNTY. THIS THUNDERSTORM WILL
AFFECT THE ORANGE GROVE AND SANDIA AREAS THROUGH 6PM. STRONG DOWNBURST
WINDS ALONG WITH QUARTER SIZE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. THE
STORM WAS SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST AROUND 10 MPH.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DO NOT USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 17, 2:40 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 17, 2:40 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
240 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 1997

VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH MODIFIED SOUNDING PRODUCING A CAPE OF
NEAR 6500...LI OF -12 AND CAP OF 1.0. THIS UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL
KEEP TSRA GOING WELL INTO TONIGHT.  TSRA WILL SLIDE INTO THE VCT
AREA BY 4 PM AND CONTINUE TO SLIDE SOUTHWARD HOWEVER AT THE SAME
TIME OTHER SCATTERED STRONG TSRA WILL BUILD FURTHER TO THE WEST.
WITH THIS TYPE UNSTABLE ENVIROMENT..SEVERE STORMS POSSIBLE ALONG
WITH FLASH FLOODING FOR VCT ZONES SO WILL KEEP WATCH UP TONIGHT.
AFTER TONIGHT MAIN UPPER LOW PUSHES NORTHEAST TO THE OHIO VALLEY
HOWEVER WEAK SFC TROUGH REMAINS IN THE AREA ALONG WITH MESOSCALE
BOUNDRIES FROM TODAYS STORMS...WILL NEED TO KEEP LOW POPS IN THE
ZONES THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

DUE TO THE HIGH TEMPS AND DEWPOINTS...HEAT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT
THIS AFTERNOON FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN PARTS OF SOUTH TEXAS.

ZONES...
VCT  076/094 077/095  4322
CRP  076/095 076/095 3222  NGP  080/090 080/090  UPPER 90S INLAND
A FEW POSSIBLY SEVERE
LRD  077/101 077/101 3121  SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE

LUNA...0074

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 17, 3:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Live Oak	53 min
Jun 17, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Bee, Live Oak	56 min
Jun 17, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Victoria	61 min
Jun 17, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Bee	57 min
Jun 17, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Nueces	45 min
Jun 17, 6:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	CRP	Nueces	31 min
Jun 17, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Live Oak	36 min
Jun 17, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Goliad	39 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.