Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

June 17, 1997Nueces County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 17, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT for Nueces County, Texas. It was in force for 45 min. 1 report 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, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Jun 17, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Nueces County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 5 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:48 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, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Banquete, TX	Sheriff and public report of a tornado. The tornado flipped over a vehicle and caused structuraldamage to homes. One man was injured with minor facial lacerations from flying debris and glass.

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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 17 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.

798 
WFUS1 KCRP 172251
TORCRP
TXC355-172330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
545 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 1997       ...CORRECTION TO TEXT.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......

IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS

   ...WESTERN NUECES COUNTY

AT 545 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO SOUTHEAST OF ORANGE GROVE IN
EXTREME WESTERN NUECES COUNTY. THE THUNDERSTORM ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
TORNADO WAS LOCATED JUST EAST OF FM 70 AND IS MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Jim Wells	66 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

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.