Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 25, 1997Cooke County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 10:11 PM CDT for Cooke County, Texas. It was in force for 64 min. 2 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, 10:11 PM CDT (03:11 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 11:15 PM CDT
In force: 64 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 03:15 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, 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, 3.2 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.

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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

827 
WFUS1 KFTW 260312 RRA
TORFTW
TXC097-260415-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1011 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1115 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...COOKE COUNTY
 
AT 1010 PM...RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH TORNADO 6 MILES
SOUTH OF GAINESVILLE MOVING TO THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN
HOUR. THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS STORM. SEEK SHELTER NOW BASEBALL
SIZED HAIL...WINDS TO 90 MPH...AND FLASH FLOODING ARE ALSO LIKELY WITH
THIS STORM.
 
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, 8:15 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, 9:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Cooke	61 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, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.