Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 7, NWS Fort Worth, TX
NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 4, 1997, 4:40 PM CST for Denton County, Grayson County, Texas. It was in force for 50 min. 6 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
- Apr 4, 1997, 4:40 PM CST (22:40 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 4, 1997, 5:30 PM CST
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Fort Worth, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Denton County, TX, Grayson County, TX
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:41 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 4, 4:50 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Pilot Pt, TX | A brief tornado touchdown blew down signs and trees, and damaged a gas station. |
| Apr 4, 5:00 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind 61 | Pilot Pt, TX | |
| Apr 4, 5:05 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Collinsville, TX | |
| Apr 4, 5:25 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Pottsboro, TX | |
| Apr 4, 5:35 PM CST | Hail 0.88 | Denison, TX | |
| Apr 4, 5:39 PM CST | Hail 0.88 | Denison, 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 4, 1:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 206 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
- 78 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -46 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 490 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 267 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 300 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFTW 042240 RRA TORFTW TXC121-181-042330- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 440 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...NORTHERN DENTON COUNTY...GRAYSON COUNTY AT 440 PM CST...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND ON HIGHWAY 455 IN PILOT POINT IN NORTHEAST DENTON COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. 8 &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 4, 2:35 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Limestone, Robertson | 55 min |
| Apr 4, 2:35 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Limestone, Robertson | 55 min |
| Apr 4, 8:23 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Bell, Falls, McLennan | 4 hr |
| Apr 4, 8:57 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Dallas, Johnson, Tarrant | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 9:24 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Limestone | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 9:57 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Ellis, Navarro | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 10:20 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Hunt, Kaufman, Rockwall | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 10:52 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Bell | 68 min |
| Apr 4, 11:30 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Ellis | 2 hr |
| Apr 4, 11:40 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Falls | 65 min |
| Apr 4, 11:45 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Bell, Falls | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 11:45 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Limestone | 3 hr |
| Apr 4, 12:17 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Limestone | 58 min |
| Apr 4, 12:22 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Hopkins | 2 hr |
| Apr 4, 1:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Palo Pinto | 44 min |
| Apr 4, 1:05 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Hunt | 2 hr |
| Apr 4, 1:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Parker | 59 min |
| Apr 4, 1:27 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Eastland | 48 min |
| Apr 4, 1:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | FWD | Parker | 43 min |
| Apr 4, 2:18 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Comanche, Erath | 57 min |
| Apr 4, 3:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Parker | 57 min |
| Apr 4, 3:10 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Parker | 2 hr |
| Apr 4, 3:13 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Erath | 62 min |
| Apr 4, 3:23 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Hood | 67 min |
| Apr 4, 4:18 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Cooke, Grayson | 27 min |
| Apr 4, 4:26 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Denton | 49 min |
| Apr 4, 4:33 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Tarrant | 57 min |
| Apr 4, 5:15 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Tarrant | 2 hr |
| Apr 4, 5:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | FWD | Coryell, Lampasas | 28 min |
| Apr 4, 5:54 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | FWD | Bell | 3 hr |
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.