Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 15, 1997Harris County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at May 15, 1997, 3:35 PM CDT for Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 55 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: May 15, 1997, 3:35 PM CDT (20:35 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Harris County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:38 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 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 213 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: 974 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 683 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

188 
WFUS1 KHOU 152030 RRA
TORHOU
TXC201-152130-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
335 PM CDT THU MAY 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...HARRIS COUNTY
 
AT 330 PM...SPOTTER REPORTS INDICATED A FUNNEL CLOUD LOCATED NORTHWEST
OF HOBBY AIRPORT AND ANOTHER REPORT ON THE BRAZORIA/HARRIS COUNTY LINE
NEAR U.S. 288. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
 
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 May 15, 2:26 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 2:26 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
225 PM CDT THU MAY 15 1997

RAMSDIS 4KM VSBY LOOP SHOWS MCV NR SJT. MEANWHILE...ENHANCED
VV TO THE E OF MCV AND LWR LVL OUTFLOW FIRING OFF SCT CONVECTION
BETWN CLL AND VCT EWD. CAPES RUNNING NR 2000 JOULES/KG. ADAP SMC
RIGHT WHERE CONVECTION IS...W/SFC DEWPOINTS NR 70.

ETA SHOWS MID LVL VORTEX MOVG SLWLY EWD TO SE TX AND THEN SAGGING
SEWD BY SATURDAY MRNG. SFC HI PRES TO THE N WL MOVE SEWD TO NRN LA/MS
BRINGING ELY FLOW OVR OUR RGN...AND SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR FILTERING INTO
AREA LATE FRI NIGHT TO SATURDAY.  805 MB THETA-E RIDGE STAYING GENLY
TO N AND W OF FA. FAR ERN ZNS SHOULD REMAIN DRIER THAN REST OF
FA...AND LESS POPS THERE.  BEST CHANCES OF PCPN PROBABLY TONITE AND
FRI TAPERING OFF LATER FRI NITE.

UPPER LVL (300 MB) WNDS THROUGH 48 HOURS NOT CONDUCIVE TO STRONG
CONVECTION W/CONFLUENT FLOW OVR RGN. IT APPEARS THAT UPPER LVL LOW
(NRN PTNS) WL GET SHEARED AND SHUNTED SWD IN TIME  (BY FRI NITE). ETA
HAS BETTER HANDLE ON THIS SCENARIO THAN NGM.  ON CWF...(FOR UPPR TX
COAST) RECOMMEND FOR TONITE AROUND 10 KTS WNDS W/SEAS 3 FT OR LESS.
1ST THOUGHTS...#37

PRELIMS:
CLL E/E B/B  68/82 64/87  3/3 2/2
IAH E/E B/B  69/81 65/86  4/4 3/2
GLS E/E E/B  74/79 72/82  4/5 4/2

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 3:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Wharton	64 min
May 15, 3:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Montgomery	56 min
May 15, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	San Jacinto	61 min
May 15, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	67 min
May 15, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Walker	60 min
May 15, 5:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk	56 min
May 15, 6:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Houston	69 min
May 15, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Grimes	63 min
May 15, 6:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Trinity	57 min
May 15, 6:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Houston, Trinity	3 hr

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.