Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 25, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 20, 1997Montgomery County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at May 20, 1997, 12:17 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Texas. It was in force for 58 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 20, 1997, 12:17 PM CDT (17:17 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 1997, 1:15 PM CDT
In force: 58 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 17:18 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, 5.3 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: 2275 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 482 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 77 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 201717 RRA
TORHOU
TXC339-201815-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1217 PM CDT TUE MAY 20 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
AT 1215 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM BETWEEN
TOMBALL AND MAGNOLIA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. THIS WILL CROSS HIGHWAY
249 SOUTH OF PINEHURST BY 1225 PM.
 
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.  ABANDpON 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 20, 9:32 AM CDT, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 9:32 AM CDT, 2 hours 45 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
930 AM CDT TUE MAY 20 1997

MCS JUST DISSIPATED OVR SETX IN THE PAST FEW HRS.  12Z ANALYSES OF H8
AND SFC SHOW PLENTY OF MSTR OVR THE FCST AREA...DWPTS AT H8 WERE IN
EXCESS OF 16 CEL AND WERE IN THE LWR 70S JUST AHEAD OF THE REMNANTS
OF THE MCS.  SATL SHOWS ANOTHER TSTM COMPLEX FRMG NR BRO...BUT XPC
THIS ONE TO ALSO TRAVEL SLOLY AND PROBABLY PROPAGATE OFFSHORE.  TSTMS
SHUD REDEVELOP OVR SETX LATER TDY WITH THE AFT HEATING.  WK H5 S/W
STAYS OVR THE AREA THRU 48 HRS...AND WITH THE HIGH MSTR AT LEAST THRU
TONIGHT WL NEED TO KEEP THE FLOOD/FLASH FLOOD WATCH UP.  (CURRENTLY
PW/S WERE 1.5 TO 2 INCHES WITH WNDS ALOFT STILL WK.)  TEMPS SHUD
RECOVER OVR THE AREA AND WL NOT SUGGEST CHGS TEMP-WISE.  WUD LIKE TO
UP THE POPS TO 60 PRCNT ACROSS THE AREA AND NEED TO UP POPS FOR
TONIGHT FOR CONTINUITY.  SEE UPDATE PRELIMS.  40

CONT FFA FOR ENTIRE FA THIS AFTN & EVNG.

CLL T/T E/E  86/68 85/065 6533  HVY RA+ PSBL 1ST/2ND PD
IAH T/T E/E  86/69 85/067 6633  HVY RA+ PSBL 1ST/2ND PD
GLS T/T E/E  83/75 82/073 6633  HVY RA+ PSBL 1ST/2ND PD

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.