Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 11, 1997, 7:38 PM CDT for Chambers County, Texas. It was in force for 52 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
- Apr 11, 1997, 7:38 PM CDT (00:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 11, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Chambers County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:39 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 11, 2:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 149 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
- 453 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -77 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 966 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 110 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
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 Apr 11, 2:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 11, 2:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 940 AM CDT FRI APR 11 1997 AIRMASS OVR SW SECTIONS OF FA ARE VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE WITH SELS REPORTING CAPES ARND 3500+. CF NEAR CLL ATTM IS PROGD TO MV INTO HOUSTON METRO AREA ARND 4-5 PM AND THEN OFF COAST BETWEEN 7-8 PM. SATL WV SHOWS STRNG SPD MX PULLING UP OUT OF SW TX AND SHUD PROVIDE KICK FOR STRNG TSTMS TO DVLP OVR SW SECTIONS AND TRAIN TO NE ACRS RMNG FA ALONG AND JUST OUT AHEAD OF FROPA. THEREFORE...SVR WX & HVY RAINS STILL A THREAT LATE AFTN/EVENG FOR PORTIONS OF SE TX. FNT SHUD PUSH THRU CNTRL ZONES ABOUT FCST ISSUENCE TIME SO WORDING WILL BE DIFFICULT THERE. WATCH TILL 01Z REQUIRES CONT MENTION OF PSBL SVR WITH HVY RAINS EARLY...THEN SHIFT WNDS AND LWR CHC TSTMS TO SLGT CHC LGT RAIN AFTER FROPA. SATL SHOWS DRY AIR ADVECTING UP FM SW BUT BELIEVE POST-FNTL ST DECK WILL PREVAIL MOST OF TNGT THEN ERODE BY MRNG AND GIVE WAY TO BKN MID LVL CLDS ON SAT. DECREASING CLDS SAT AFTN WILL ALLOW FAIR SKIES SAT NGT TO BOTTOM TMPS OUT INTO THE 40S. OVRRNG CLDS SEEM TO SET UP LATE SUN AS NXT UPR TROF DIGS INTO BAJA AREA AND SPREADS PAC MOIST/CLDS OVR A COOL DRY NE-E FLOW AT SFC. WILL TWEAK CLDS AND TMPS ACCORDINGLY WITH NO POPS AFTR TNGT. CAUTION ADVISED ON AREA LAKES INLAND...INLAND BAYS AND WATERWAYS FOR COASTAL ZONES TNGT AND SAT. LEANING TWRD COOL DRY S ATTM. 39 PRELIMS... CLL E/B A/B-E 48/55 42/63 2000 IAH E/B A/B-E 52/60 44/64 6-2000 GLS C/E B/B-E 58/64 55/63 8-2000
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 11, 2:25 PM CDT, 5 hours 13 minutes before
TXZ178-179-199-200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-120130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 225 PM CDT FRI APR 11 1997 ...A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 800 PM FOR MOST OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 8 PM FOR THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS. COUNTIES IN THE WATCH AREA INCLUDE...POLK...SAN JACINTO...MONTGOMERY...WALLER... AUSTIN...COLORADO...LIBERTY...CHAMBERS...HARRIS...GALVESTON... BRAZORIA...FORT BEND...MATAGORDA...WHARTON...JACKSON. CITIES IN THE WATCH AREA INCLUDE CONROE...HOUSTON...COLUMBUS... RICHMOND...EL CAMPO...ANGLETON...AND GALVESTON. THE WATCH INCLUDES THE ADJACIENT COASTAL WATERS. SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON IN A VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE. A COMBINATION OF A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...THE JET STREAM ALOFT...AND A STRONG COLD FRONT AT THE SURFACE HAVE INDUCED A WIND SHEAR PATTERN FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TORNADIC STORMS OVER THE WATCH AREA. THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE HOUSTON AREA BETWEEN 4 AND 6 PM...THEN OFF OF THE COAST BETWEEN 8 AND 10 PM. REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. AMATUER RADIO OPERATORS AND SKYWARN SPOTTERS ARE URGED TO MONITOR THIS WEATHER SITUATION AND BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND STATEMENTS.
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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.