Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 27, 1997, 8:30 PM CST for Polk County, Texas. It was in force for 60 min. 3 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
- Jan 27, 1997, 8:30 PM CST (02:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 27, 1997, 9:30 PM CST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Polk County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:32 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 8:35 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind | Camden, TX | |
| Jan 27, 8:40 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Livingston, TX | |
| Jan 27, 8:40 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Livingston, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 4:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 173 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
- 1472 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 733 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 114 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 131 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 5.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
110 WUUS1 KHOU 280232 RRA SVRHOU TXC373-280330- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 830 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...POLK COUNTY AT 827 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES EAST OF LIVINGSTON MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THIS THUNDERSTORMS WILL APPROACH LIVINGSTON BY 845 PM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING NICKEL SIZE HAIL. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 6:20 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty | 3 hr |
| Jan 27, 6:24 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Liberty | 51 min |
| Jan 27, 6:40 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Chambers, Harris | 65 min |
| Jan 27, 6:52 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Brazoria | 68 min |
| Jan 27, 7:06 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Galveston | 69 min |
| Jan 27, 7:14 PM CST | Tornado Warning | HGX | Chambers, Harris | 61 min |
| Jan 27, 7:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Chambers | 69 min |
| Jan 27, 8:10 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Galveston | 65 min |
| Jan 27, 8:24 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Galveston | 3 hr |
| Jan 27, 9:03 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Harris, Liberty | 3 hr |
| Jan 27, 9:21 PM CST | Tornado Warning | HGX | Galveston | 69 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.