Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 69, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

May 15, 1997Bexar County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 1997, 5:02 PM CDT for Bexar County, Texas. It was in force for 58 min. 4 reports 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: May 15, 1997, 5:02 PM CDT (22:02 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Bexar County, TX

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:06 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
May 15, 5:25 PM CDT	Hail 1	San Antonio, TX
May 15, 5:45 PM CDT	Hail 1	San Antonio, TX
May 15, 5:50 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Kelly Afb, TX
May 15, 6:09 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	San Antonio, 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
May 15, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 1447 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1052 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 243 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 7.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSAT 152202 RRA
SVRSAT
TXC029-152300-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
502 PM CDT THU MAY 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...BEXAR COUNTY
 
AT 5 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ENTERING NORTHERN
BEXAR...10 MILES NORTHWEST OF HELOTES. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 10 MPH.
THIS STORM WILL AFFECT PARTS OF BEXAR IN THE NEXT HOUR.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS CAN REACH SPEEDS OVER 60 MPH.  THESE WINDS
BLOW DOWN TREES...POWER LINES...AND SEVERELY DAMAGE MOBILE HOMES...
SOMETIMES BUILDINGS.  VERY LARGE HAIL CAN INJURE ANYONE CAUGHT
OUTSIDE.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE POSSIBILITY
OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.  FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN CAN ALSO OCCUR WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...FLOODING SMALL
STREAMS...LOW AREAS...AND LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
IF YOU SEE SEVERE WEATHER TAKING PLACE...CALL YOUR REPORT TO
THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY FOR IMMEDIATE RELAY TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
 
 
 4

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 4:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Comal	57 min
May 15, 4:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Bandera	63 min
May 15, 4:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Frio	67 min
May 15, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Dimmit	60 min
May 15, 4:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Atascosa	67 min
May 15, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Frio	63 min
May 15, 6:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Bexar	55 min
May 15, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Llano	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every 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.