Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 20, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 9:14 PM CDT for Cooke County, Texas. It was in force for 61 min. 9 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, 9:14 PM CDT (02:14 UTC)
- Expired
- May 25, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 61 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 02:17 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, 9:25 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Era, TX | |
| May 25, 9:34 PM CDT | Hail 2 | Valley View, TX | |
| May 25, 9:39 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Era, TX | Spotters reported a tornado northeast of Era. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 10 minutes and uprooted numerous large trees. |
| May 25, 9:41 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Mountain Spgs, TX | A brief tornado was reported. |
| May 25, 9:50 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 61 | Era, TX | |
| May 25, 9:54 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Gainesville, TX | |
| May 25, 10:10 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 78 | Valley View, TX | Winds were estimated at 80 to 90 mph north of town. |
| May 25, 10:11 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Gainesville, TX | A tornado touched down just east of the high school. Spotters watched this weak tornado for about 8 minutes as it moved east. |
| May 25, 10:19 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Gainesville, 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, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 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.
480 WFUS1 KFTW 260214 RRA TORFTW TXC097-260315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 914 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...COOKE COUNTY AT 914 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM MUENSTER TO GAINESVILLE TO NORTH OF RAY ROBERTS RESERVOIR. TORNADOES HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN THE VICINITY OF MUENSTER. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 10 TO 15 MPH. 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. &
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, 8:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FWD | Cooke | 60 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, 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.