Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 16, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT for Cooke County, Texas. It was in force for 60 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 25, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 25, 1997, 9:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Fort Worth, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cooke County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 8:36 PM CDT | Tornado F2 | Muenster, TX | A tornado blew over a 1500 lb pumpjack, snapped 25 power poles, destroyed several barns, damaged roofs, and damaged or destroyed numerous trees. |
| May 25, 8:40 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Muenster, TX | |
| May 25, 9:10 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Myra, TX | A tornado was reported by spotters. |
| May 25, 9:25 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Era, 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 25, 3:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
| May 25, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 90 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
- 4787 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 865 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 184 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 5.1
- Supercell composite
- 22.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
119 WFUS1 KFTW 260116 RRA TORFTW TXC097-260215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 815 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...COOKE COUNTY AT 815 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO IN WESTERN COOKE COUNTY...JUST SOUTH OF MUENSTER...MOVING TO THE EAST-SOUTHEAST AT ABOUT 25 MPH. IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO..THIS STORM WILL ALSO CONTAIN LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 7:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Montague | 38 min |
| May 25, 7:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Cooke | 50 min |
| May 25, 8:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Montague | 28 min |
| May 25, 8:30 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Cooke | 3 hr |
| May 25, 8:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Montague | 15 min |
| May 25, 9:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Grayson | 64 min |
| May 25, 9:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Cooke | 61 min |
| May 25, 10:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Cooke | 64 min |
| May 25, 10:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Grayson | 44 min |
| May 25, 10:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Fannin | 61 min |
| May 25, 10:38 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Grayson | 37 min |
| May 25, 10:48 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Collin | 42 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.