Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

April 4, 1997Duval County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 4, 1997, 9:39 PM CST for Duval County, Texas. It was in force for 51 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: Apr 4, 1997, 9:39 PM CST (03:39 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 1997, 10:30 PM CST
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Duval County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:38 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
Apr 4, 10:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Freer, TX	Several large trees and numerous power lines downed.

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
Apr 4, 9:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 115 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: 3317 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 663 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.1
Supercell composite: 10.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCRP 050340 RRA
TORCRP
TXC131-050430-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
939 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...DUVAL COUNTY
 
AT 935 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO
LOCATED 20 MILES TO THE SOUTHWEST OF FREER ALONG HIGHWAY 59 AND WILL BE
MOVING TOWARD THE CITY OF FREER AND THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES WITHIN
THE NEXT 30 MINUTES. THE TORNADO IS MOVING TO THE EAST AND NORTHEAST AT
45 MPH.
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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 Apr 4, 8:17 PM CST, 1 hour 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 4, 8:17 PM CST, 1 hour 22 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
815 PM CST FRI APR 04 1997

DISCUSSION...WT 136 ISSUED FOR GOLIAD AND VICTORIA COUNTIES UNTIL
07Z.  KCRP-88D REF DATA INDICATING 2 BANDS OF SHRA/TSRA ACTIVITY
XTNDG FROM TILDEN-EWX-ACT ATTM WITH ANOTHER BAND IN PHASE WITH FRNTL
POSITION ALONG A LRD-HDO LINE WHERE THE SECOND BAND OF CNVCTN IS
ADVANCING.  TEMP DROP OF 14 DEG OCCURRED OVR LRD WITH THE WSHFT AT
0125Z.

ADAP ANALYSIS SUPPORTS THE NEWD CELL PROPAGATION IN PHASE WITH THE
SFC MOISTURE CNVGNC AXIS XTNDG FROM LRD-LFK WITH STG COUPLET OF THETA
ADVECTION ACROSS THE AREA WITH GRADIENT LOCATED WHERE RAPID TSTM
DEVELOPMENT IS OCCURRING.  CURRENT FCST IS IN LINE WITH THE PRESENT
AND ANTICIPATED SITUATION WITH NO CHANGES REQUIRED.

ETA TIME CROSS-SECTIONS REVEAL SHARP DRYING IN THE POST-FRONTAL
ENVIRONMENT WITH PC-MS AND MILD CONDITIONS EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND.

BML...76

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 8:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	60 min
Apr 4, 8:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Webb	37 min
Apr 4, 9:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Webb	35 min
Apr 4, 9:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	64 min
Apr 4, 10:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Live Oak	49 min
Apr 4, 10:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Bee, Live Oak	50 min
Apr 4, 11:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Goliad	65 min
Apr 4, 11:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	San Patricio	65 min
Apr 4, 11:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Victoria	44 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.