Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 61, NWS Fort Worth, TX

October 23, 1997Anderson County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 1997, 5:12 PM CDT for Anderson County, Texas. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Oct 23, 1997, 5:12 PM CDT (22:12 UTC)
Expired: Oct 23, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Anderson County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 177 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:13 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 23, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 191 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 269 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFTW 232213 RRA
TORFTW
TXC001-232245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
512 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...ANDERSON COUNTY
 
AT 512 PM...A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
PALESTINE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 TO 30 MPH. ELKHART IS IN THE PATH OF
THIS STORM.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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, Oct 23, 11:14 AM CDT, 5 hours 58 minutes before

TXZ147-148-156>162-174-175-231815-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1108 AM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT SOUTH OF A GOLDTHWAITE TO HILLSBORO TO
TYLER LINE UNTIL 3 PM...

AT 1108 AM...NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS WERE IN EFFECT. THE
STORMS THAT PRODUCED HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS IN BELL AND
FALLS COUNTIES HAS MOVED EAST AND WEAKENED IN HENDERSON AND FREESTONE
COUNTIES.

HOWEVER...ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING TO THE WEST OF THE
AREA...AND THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR THE REGION...INCLUDING
TORNADOES...EXIST THIS AFTERNOON.

REMAIN ALERT AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS
ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH.

Local storm report, Oct 23, 4:04 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
404 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0355 PM    MERIDIAN                  TX   70 MPH TSTM GUST
10/23/97   BOSQUE                         ESTIMATED 70 MPH WINDS BY
                                          RED CROSS

0358 PM    ENNIS                     TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
10/23/97   ELLIS                          GOLFBALL HAIL DOWNTOWN

Local storm report, Oct 23, 4:05 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
404 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0355 PM    MERIDIAN                  TX   70 MPH TSTM GUST
10/23/97   BOSQUE                         ESTIMATED 70 MPH WINDS BY
                                          RED CROSS

0358 PM    ENNIS                     TX   1.75 INCH HAIL     0
10/23/97   ELLIS                          GOLFBALL HAIL DOWNTOWN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 23, 9:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Bell	57 min
Oct 23, 9:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Falls	60 min
Oct 23, 10:22 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Johnson, Tarrant	98 min
Oct 23, 10:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Limestone	66 min
Oct 23, 10:36 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Dallas, Ellis	2 hr
Oct 23, 11:42 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hill	2 hr
Oct 23, 12:01 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Bosque, Hamilton	119 min
Oct 23, 2:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Bosque	46 min
Oct 23, 2:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Bosque	54 min
Oct 23, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Hill	45 min
Oct 23, 3:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Ellis	57 min
Oct 23, 3:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Bosque, Hill	61 min
Oct 23, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Kaufman	60 min
Oct 23, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Jack	59 min
Oct 23, 4:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Navarro	67 min
Oct 23, 4:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Montague, Wise	64 min
Oct 23, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Bosque, Hill	60 min
Oct 23, 4:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hill, Navarro	116 min
Oct 23, 4:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Bosque	116 min
Oct 23, 5:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Wise	39 min
Oct 23, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Henderson	26 min
Oct 23, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Denton	67 min
Oct 23, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Navarro	53 min
Oct 23, 6:36 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Navarro	84 min
Oct 23, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Freestone	62 min
Oct 23, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Navarro	29 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.