Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

May 23, 1997Bee County, Live Oak County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at May 23, 1997, 3:38 PM CDT for Bee County, Live Oak County, Texas. It was in force for 67 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 23, 1997, 3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Bee County, TX, Live Oak County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:39 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, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 93 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2011 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 1997-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 99 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
2011 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
470 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

987 
WFUS1 KCRP 232041 RRA
TORCRP
TXC025-297-232145-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
338 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  445 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN LIVE OAK COUNTY AND BEE COUNTY
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOTTERS INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR LAGARTO NEAR
THE INTERSECTION OF FM 534 AND FM3162. MOVEMENT OF THE TORNADOO WAS TO
THE SOUTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 MPH. HOWEVER...THE ASSOCIATED THUNDERSTORM WAS
MOVING TO THE NORTH AT 15 MPH.
 
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS BEE COUNTY HAVE BEEN PRODUCING FUNNEL
CLOUDS AND THESE FUNNEL CLOUDS MAY BRIEFLY TOUCH THE GROUND ACROSS THE
SKIDMORE AND BEEVILLE AREAS.
 
 
 
 
 
&

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 May 23, 3:02 PM CDT, 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 3:02 PM CDT, 36 minutes before
COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
300 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

SORRY FOR THE DELAY...BEEN REAL BUSY SO I'LL KEEP IT BRIEF. DECENT
IMPULSE MVD THRU CWA TODAY...LEAVING BEHIND IMPRESSIVE RAINFALL
AMOUNTS. A WK MESOSCALE CIRCULATION EVIDENT IN KCRP 88D BASE REF
LOOPS OVR THE ADJACENT WATERS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO JUST EAST OF CRP
AND RKP ENHANCED AND CHANNELED CONVECTION INTO EXTREME NRN PORTIONS
OF THE CWA (CALHOUN AND PORTIONS OF VCT COUNTY). THE PRECIP FOCUS
APPEARS TO BE SHIFTING TOWARD SE TX AS THE AFOREMENTIONED IMPULSE
TRACKS IN THAT DIRECTION...HOWEVER LEFT OVR OUTFLO BNDRIES COUPLED
WITH THE APPROACH OF AN IMPRESSIVE MID-UPR LVL IMPULSE WL KP FFA IN
PLACE FOR THE ENTIRE CWA FOR TONIGHT. 12Z GRIDDED MODEL DATA SUGGEST
SIGNIFICANT DRYING OF MID/UPR LVLS AS THIS NXT S/W PASSES THRU THE FA
SAT. SO WL TREND POPS DOWN OVR THE NXT COUPLE OF PERIODS.

PRELIMS...

CRP       069/085/071/090  40% 30%Z(MORNING) 10% 10%
NGP       071/083/073/086  40% 30%(MORNING) 10% 10%
VCT       069/084/069/088  50% 30%(MORNING) 10% 10%
LRD       068/089/071/091  20% 20%(MORNING) 00% 00%

SRP...77

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 23, 3:15 PM CDT, 23 minutes before
PRELIMINARY STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
315 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

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

0926 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  WATERSPOUT
05/23/97   NUECES                         CORPUS CHRISTI PD REPORT OF
                                          SPOUT OVER CORPUS CHRISTI
                                          BAY.

1030 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NAVAL AIR STATION SECURITY
                                          REPORT OF SEVERAL INCHES OF
                                          WATER COVERING THE ROADWAYS.

1033 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NWS EMPLOYEE REPORT OF
                                          FLOODING ALONG EVERHART AND
                                          SOUTH PADRE ISLAND DRIVE
                                          WITH SEVERAL VEHICLES
                                          STRANDED.

1100 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NWS EMPLOYEE REPORT OF
                                          FLOODING ALONG RODDFIELD
                                          ROAD FROM SOUTH PADRE
                                          ISLAND DRIVE TO WOOLDRIDGE.

1115 AM    GREGORY                    TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   SAN PATRICIO                   CHIEF OF GREGORY PD
                                          REPORTED WATER COVERING
                                          MOST SECONDARY ROADS.

215 PM     PORT LAVACA                TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   CALHOUN                        SHERIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED
                                          MANY ROADWAYS FLOODED IN
                                          PORT LAVACA
Local storm report, May 23, 3:23 PM CDT, 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
315 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 1997

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

0926 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  WATERSPOUT
05/23/97   NUECES                         CORPUS CHRISTI PD REPORT OF
                                          SPOUT OVER CORPUS CHRISTI
                                          BAY.

1030 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NAVAL AIR STATION SECURITY
                                          REPORT OF SEVERAL INCHES OF
                                          WATER COVERING THE ROADWAYS.

1033 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NWS EMPLOYEE REPORT OF
                                          FLOODING ALONG EVERHART AND
                                          SOUTH PADRE ISLAND DRIVE
                                          WITH SEVERAL VEHICLES
                                          STRANDED.

1100 AM    CORPUS CHRISTI             TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   NUECES                         NWS EMPLOYEE REPORT OF
                                          FLOODING ALONG RODDFIELD
                                          ROAD FROM SOUTH PADRE
                                          ISLAND DRIVE TO WOOLDRIDGE.

1115 AM    GREGORY                    TX  FLOODING
05/23/97   SAN PATRICIO                   CHIEF OF GREGORY PD
                                          REPORTED WATER COVERING
                                          MOST SECONDARY ROADS.

215 PM     PORT LAVACA                TX  FLOODING
05/23/97 @  CALHOUN                        SHERIFF DEPARTMENT REPORTED
                                          MANY ROADWAYS FLOODED IN
                                          PORT LAVACA

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 10:08 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningCRPNueces3 hr
May 23, 10:44 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningCRPSan Patricio3 hr
May 23, 1:30 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningCRPCalhoun2 hr

Nearby

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