Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 180, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Dec 20, 1997, 5:46 PM CST for Atascosa County, Texas. It was in force for 44 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
- Dec 20, 1997, 5:46 PM CST (23:46 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 20, 1997, 6:30 PM CST
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Atascosa County, TX
The radar
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:49 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 6:00 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Charlotte, TX |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 5:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 174 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 393 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 593 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 177 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 206 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KSAT 202349 RRA SVRSAT TXC013-210030- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 546 PM CST SAT DEC 20 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...ATASCOSA COUNTY AT 545 PM CST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ENTERING ATASCOSA COUNTY BETWEEN HINDES AND CHARLOTTE MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH. THIS STORM WILL REACH JOURDANTON SHORTLY AFTER 600 PM. ALTHOUGH NO TORNADOES HAVE BEEN DETECTED WITH THIS STORM...A TORNADVO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Dec 20, 5:04 PM CST, 42 minutes before
TXZ186>190-204>206-219-220-210000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 504 PM CST SAT DEC 20 1997 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR MOST OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY... AT 500 PM A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD FORMED ALONG A LINE FROM COTULA TO VANDERPOOL TO NEAR HARPER. THESE STORMS WERE RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING AND MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL...GUSTY THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. THIS LINE WILL MOVE INTO THE SAN ANTONIO AREA BY 600 PM. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATING WEATHER AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE A PLACE OF SAFETY IF SUCH IS SIGHTED OR A WARNING IS ISSUED.
Special weather statement, Dec 20, 5:05 PM CST, 41 minutes before
TXZ186>190-204>206-219-220-210000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 504 PM CST SAT DEC 20 1997 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR MOST OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY... AT 500 PM A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD FORMED ALONG A LINE FROM COTULA TO VANDERPOOL TO NEAR HARPER. THESE STORMS WERE RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING AND MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL...GUSTY THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. THIS LINE WILL MOVE INTO THE SAN ANTONIO AREA BY 600 PM. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATING WEATHER AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE A PLACE OF SAFETY IF SUCH IS SIGHTED OR A WARNING IS ISSUED.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 20, 3:25 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Burnet | 3 hr |
| Dec 20, 5:32 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Frio | 43 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.