Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 152, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

June 18, 1997Brazoria County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 18, 1997, 2:00 PM CDT for Brazoria County, Texas. It was in force for 45 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
Jun 18, 1997, 2:00 PM CDT (19:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 18, 1997, 2:45 PM CDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Brazoria County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:03 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 18, 2:12 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 50Angleton, TX
Jun 18, 2:27 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Clute, TXLarge limbs blown down.

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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 240 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-06-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 544 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-06-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -66 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
544 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
817 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.1
Supercell composite
-2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
930 AM CDT WED JUN 18 1997

AS PER PREV FCST DISCUSSION...AIR MASS REMAINS QUITE MOIST
...W/HI CAPES (1500 J/KG AND ABOVE) OVR RGN. REMNANTS OF
YESTERDAYS WEAK FNTL BOUNDARY EVIDENT OVR EXTREME NRN ZNS.
03Z MESO-ETA INDICATE LO LVL CONFLUENCE ZONE OVR FA LINGERING
OVR SE TX THRU THURSDAY MRNG. UPPER LVL IMPULSE MOVG ACRS TONITE
WL REINFORCE SHEAR ZONE OVR RGN PSBLY TRIGERRING ANOTHER ROUND
OF LATE EVE TO EARLY MRNG TSTMS...IF MESO ETA IS CORRECT.

MEANTIME...DAYTIME HEATING AND SEABREEZE WL BE SUFFICIENT TO
TRIGGER TSTMS OVR RGN...SO 1ST PD NUMBERS LOOKS OK. 1ST THOUGHTS...
37

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 2:15 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria3 hr
Jun 18, 2:26 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXBrazoria, Matagorda34 min
Jun 18, 3:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXMatagorda40 min
Jun 18, 3:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXJackson49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.