Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 26, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 21, 1997Colorado County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1997, 7:09 PM CDT for Colorado County, Texas. It was in force for 66 min. 2 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: May 21, 1997, 7:09 PM CDT (00:09 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Colorado County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:09 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
May 21, 7:30 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Sheridan, TX	Tornado blew down powerlines, temporary buildings, and 12" diameter trees
May 21, 7:45 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Sheridan, 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 nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 2064 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 489 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

594 
WFUS1 KHOU 220011 RRA
TORHOU
TXC089-220115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
709 PM CDT WED MAY 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...COLORADO COUNTY
 
AT 706 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 3 EAST OF
SHERIDAN MOVING EAST AT 15 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 21, 3:01 PM CDT, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 21, 3:01 PM CDT, 4 hours 8 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
255 PM CDT WED MAY 21 1997

MOISTURE WILL BE ON A SLOW INCREASE OVER THE REGION AS SUBTROPICAL
JETLET MOVES NORTH OUT OF MEXICO AND RIGHT REAR ENTERS THE AREA IN
EARLY AM...AND OFF TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST BY LATE AFTERNOON.  THIS
ALONG WITH THE WARM FRONT DRIFTING NORTHWARD...AND THE SEABREEZE
SHOULD BE MORE THAN SUFFICIENT FOR A ROUND OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS TO AFFECT MOST OF THE AREA ON THU.  WILL INCREASE POPS
OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE REGION FOR THU.  LIGHT WINDS WILL
BECOME NORTHEAST AGAIN TONIGHT AND THEN COME AROUND FAIRLY ABRUPTLY
COME THU MORNING.  A DEEP S-SSE FLOW WILL BE IN PLACE ON FRIDAY SO
EXPECT ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS BUT WILL DEPEND ON TIMING OF
UPPER FEATURES FOR ANY SIGN OF ORGANIZATION SO WILL LEAVE THIS TO
LATER FORECASTERS.

45
CLL EEEE  68/81/67/83  2434
IAH ECEE  69/84/68/85  5644
GLS EEEE  74/82/74/83  5645

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 2:34 PM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before

TXZ237-227-236-226-214-238-235-212230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
231 PM CDT WED MAY 21 1997

AT 220 PM...NUMEROUS REPORTS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS HAD BEEN RECIEVED FROM THE
PUBLIC...DPS AND SOUTH TEXAS PROJECT IN MATAGORDA COUNTY.

A THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPING ALONG THE SEABREEZE PROMPTED THE FUNNEL
CLOUD...THIS THUNDERSTORM WILL BE MOVING SLOWLY INLAND.  OTHER
THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THE SEABREEZE FRONT THIS AFTERNOON AND
GIVEN THE WINDS IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE MAY PRODUCE OTHER FUNNEL CLOUDS
IN JACKSON...MATAGORDA...BRAZORIA...GALVESTON...CHAMBERS AND WHARTON
COUNTIES.

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 7:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Wharton	62 min
May 21, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Austin	50 min
May 21, 9:33 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Austin, Harris, Waller	117 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.