Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

April 4, 1997San Patricio County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 4, 1997, 11:25 PM CST for San Patricio County, Texas. It was in force for 65 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: Apr 4, 1997, 11:25 PM CST (05:25 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 1997, 12:30 AM CST
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County San Patricio County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:29 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
Apr 4, 9:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 36 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.

920 
WFUS1 KCRP 050531
TORCRP
TXC409-050630-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECT HIGHWAY NUMBER TO 77
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
1125 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......

IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS

   ...SAN PATRICIO COUNTY


AT 1120 PM SAN PATRICIO COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT REPORTS A FUNNEL
CLOUD 4 MILES NORTH OF ODEM ALONG COUNTY ROAD 31. MOVEMENT IS TO
THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.  AREAS ALONG HIGHWAY 77 INCLUDING SINTON
ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS FUNNEL...WHICH MAY DESCEND TO THE GROUND
AND PRODUCE A TORNADO.  PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM NEED
TO TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

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 Apr 4, 8:17 PM CST, 3 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 4, 8:17 PM CST, 3 hours 8 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, 9:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Duval	51 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, 11:31 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.