Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 22, 1997, 2:31 AM CDT for Van Zandt County, Texas. It was in force for 59 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 22, 1997, 2:31 AM CDT (07:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 22, 1997, 3:30 AM CDT
- In force
- 59 min
- Issued by
- NWS Fort Worth, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Van Zandt County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:34 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 22, 2:45 AM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Canton, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 1:00 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 139 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
- 2364 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1547 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 167 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 5.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFTW 220730 RRA TORFTW TXC467-220830- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 231 AM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHEAST TEXAS ...VAN ZANDT COUNTY AT 230 AM...RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST WEST OF CANTON. CAONTON IS IN THE DIRECT PATH OF THIS STORM AS IT MOVES TO THE EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR. TAKE COVER NOW! 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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 21, 9:32 PM CDT, 4 hours 59 minutes before
TXZ091>095-098>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-221200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 930 PM CDT MON APR 21 1997 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH DAYBREAK TUESDAY FOR ALL OF NORTH TEXAS. THE PRIMARY THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE FROM LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS. A SURFACE LOW WAS LOCATED BETWEEN STEPHENVILLE AND WACO LATE MONDAY EVENING. A WARM FRONT EXTENDED NORTHEAST OF THIS LOW...THROUGH THE DALLAS/FT WORTH METROPLEX...THEN EAST INTO EAST TEXAS NEAR MARSHALL. A DRYLINE EXTENDED SOUTH OF THE LOW INTO THE HILL COUNTRY. THE AIRMASS TO THE EAST OF THE DRYLINE AND ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE WARM FRONT IS MODERATELY UNSTABLE...BUT A LAYER OF WARM AIR SOME 5000 TO 7000 FEET ABOVE THE SURFACE WAS PREVENTING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WAS APPROACHING THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...A FEW SEVERE...WERE LOCATED OVER THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE...AND A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM FOR MUCH OF THE PANHANDLE AND A SMALL PORTION OF SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA. THIS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO MOVE SOUTHEAST DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...REACHING THE NORTHWESTERN PORTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS AROUND 100 AM...FROM A BONHAM TO DALLAS TO GOLDTHWAITE LINE BY 400 AM...AND FROM A PARIS TO TEMPLE LINE BY DAYBREAK. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOW WINDS APPEAR TO BE THE SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. WHILE THE WIND PROFILE IN THE LOWEST 5000 FEET OF THE ATMOSPHERE FAVORS AN ORGANIZED CLUSTER OF STRONG TO OCCASIONALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...A FEW SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS... STORM SPOTTER GROUPS...AND OTHER INTERESTED CONCERNS SHOULD MONITOR THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION AND TAKE NECESSARY ACTIONS SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN YOUR AREA. ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTER GROUPS MAY BE REQUIRED NORTHWEST OF A MONTAGUE TO EASTLAND LINE SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...NORTHWEST OF A BONHAM TO GOLDTHWAITE LINE BY 300 AM...AND NORTHWEST OF A PARIS TO TEMPLE LINE BY 600 AM. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCJAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATIONS...OR YOUR LOCAL CABLE TELEVISION PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL SEVERE WEATHER THREAT. 70
The office that day
Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 11:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Van Zandt | 68 min |
| Apr 22, 12:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Henderson | 69 min |
| Apr 22, 12:15 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Van Zandt | 30 min |
| Apr 22, 12:22 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Henderson | 53 min |
| Apr 22, 1:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Van Zandt | 61 min |
| Apr 22, 2:11 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Van Zandt | 3 hr |
| Apr 22, 2:17 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Montague | 58 min |
| Apr 22, 2:19 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Young | 56 min |
| Apr 22, 2:37 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Jack | 68 min |
| Apr 22, 2:55 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Cooke, Wise | 65 min |
| Apr 22, 3:03 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Jack | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 3:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Throckmorton | 44 min |
| Apr 22, 3:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Denton | 65 min |
| Apr 22, 3:43 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Young | 62 min |
| Apr 22, 3:54 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Collin | 66 min |
| Apr 22, 3:54 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Parker, Tarrant | 66 min |
| Apr 22, 4:03 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Lamar | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 4:19 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Dallas | 56 min |
| Apr 22, 4:36 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Jack, Wise | 69 min |
| Apr 22, 4:44 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Hunt, Rockwall | 61 min |
| Apr 22, 4:54 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Ellis, Kaufman | 66 min |
| Apr 22, 4:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Collin | 31 min |
| Apr 22, 5:10 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Fannin | 65 min |
| Apr 22, 5:18 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Delta, Hopkins, Lamar, Rains | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 5:18 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Van Zandt | 57 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.