Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

January 15, 1997Montgomery County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jan 15, 1997, 5:43 AM CST for Montgomery County, Texas. It was in force for 62 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: Jan 15, 1997, 5:43 AM CST (11:43 UTC)
Expired: Jan 15, 1997, 6:45 AM CST
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Montgomery County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:46 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 222 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: 505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 289 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 151149 RRA
TORHOU
TXC339-151245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
543 AM CST WED JAN 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
AT 543 AM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF
MAGNOLIA. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. LAKE CONROE IS IN THE PATH
OF THIS STORM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND
MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT GET
INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jan 15, 2:23 AM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 15, 2:23 AM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
223 AM CST WED JAN 15 1997

SHOWERS AND TSTMS CURRENTLY FIRING IN THE GULF AND STREAMING
TOWARD THE UPPER COAST W/ SOME STORMS INDICATING HAIL UP TO 1.25.
OTHER SHOWERS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP AT INLAND LOCATIONS.  EXPECT
PATCHY DENSE FOG TO CONTINUE THROUGH MID MORNING.

40-50 KT LOW LEVEL JET SETTING UP ACROSS SOUTHEAST TX THIS MORNING
AND 00Z ETA MODEL VERIFIES WELL.  THETA-E RIDGE RIGHT OVERHEAD
PRECEDING PACIFIC SYSTEM EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TODAY.
PLENTY OF LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE AND LIFT IN THE LOWER LEVELS COMBINED
WITH 300 MB RR-QUAD SPEED MAX WILL CALL FOR A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
TSTMS ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON.  BEST CHANCES
OF PRECIP IN THE ERN ZONES TOWARD LA.  WINDS SHOULD THEN SHIFT TO THE
WEST AND NORTHWEST AND CLEARING SKIES CAN BE EXPECTED THRU THE
REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON.

SECOND SURGE OF ARCTIC AIR TO MOVE INTO S TX THURSDAY ALONG WITH
1047 MB HIGH AND VERY STRONG NORTH WINDS.  DEEPENING BAHA LOW MAY
SPELL TROUBLE TOWARD THE WEEKEND AS OVERRUNNING MOISTURE MAY BE IN
THE FORM OF ANOTHER WINTERY MIX.  STAY TUNED  WILL GO W/ HIGHER POPS
THAN MOS 1ST PERIOD AND MIXTURE OF AVN/MOS TEMPS.

PRELIMS...
CLL CB 050/030 044/023 400
IAH CB 052/032 048/026 400
GLS CB 050/037 046/031 500

47/42

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.