Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

March 1, 1997McMullen County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 11:20 PM CST for McMullen County, Texas. It was in force for 40 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: Mar 1, 1997, 11:20 PM CST (05:20 UTC)
Expired: Mar 2, 1997, 12:00 AM CST
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County McMullen County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:24 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 1, 11:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 1612 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -132 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1104 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -108 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.5
Supercell composite: -4.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 020520 RRA
TORCRP
TXC311-020600-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1120 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN MCMULLEN COUNTY
 
AT 1119 PM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 10 MILES
WEST OF TILDEN. THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL MOVE
ACROSS THE TOWN OF TILDEN BY 1130 PM. PERSONS IN TILDEN SHOULD TAKE
SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. THE COMMUNITIES OF CHOKE CANYON AND CALLIHAM ARE
NEXT IN LINE. LARGE HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY
THIS STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Mar 1, 8:25 PM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 1, 8:25 PM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
820 PM CST SAT MAR 01 1997

STEEP COLD FRONT PUSHING THROUGH THE HILL COUNTRY ATTM WITH +TSRA
DEVELOPING ALG IT AND TRACKING QUICKLY NE.  TEMP AHEAD OF THE FNT
VERY WARM IN THE UPPER 70S.   BEHIND THE FNT TEMPS PLUNGE QUICKLY
INTO THE 50S.  LATEST SFC OBS FOR COTULLA 77 DEG WITH LGT VRBL WINDS.
DRT 61 DEG WITH NW WINDS AT 21G35KTS. 02Z SFC ANALYSIS PLACES FNT ALG
LINE FROM SOUTH OF DRT-JCT-TXK.

AMS SOUTH OF THE FNT IS UNSTABLE BUT CAPPED.  00Z CRP SOUNDING SHOWED
LI MINUS 8.  CAPE 2630.  CAP 2.9 DEG C.  12Z MODEL RUNS BRING SFC FNT
TO THE LRD AREA BY 9PM.  CRP-VCT MIDNIGHT.  WITH COLDEST H5 TEMPS
REMAINING NORTH OF OUR CWA...AND A STG CAP IN PLACE BELIEVE DEEP
CONVECTION WILL NOT OCCUR THIS FAR SOUTH...THEREFORE WILL LEAVE
CURRENT FCST OF 20% CHC SHOWERS AS IS.

FOG BEGINNING TO PUSH INLAND ALG COAST WITH VSBYS DOWN TO 1 MILE.
WILL UPDATE TO INCLUDE FOG FOR CRP-VCT UNTIL FNTL PASSAGE.

WIND IS THE LAST PROBLEM OF THE NIGHT.  STG PRES GRADIENT WILL
DEVELOP ACROSS THE CWA TONIGHT....ESPECIALLY ALG THE COAST AFTR
MIDNIGHT.  SINCE DRT GUSTING TO 40 MPH ATTM.  WILL INCLUDE WIND
ADVISORIES FOR CRP-LR2D AND BUMP VCT WINDS UP TO 15-25 MPH AND GUSTY.
STGR WINDS SHOULD BRING A BIT COOLER TEMPS...THEREFORE WILL DROP
TEMPS DOWN ONE CAT.

JM...075

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 1, 10:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	59 min
Mar 1, 10:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	McMullen	69 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.