Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 31, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at May 29, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT for Wharton County, Texas. It was in force for 38 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 29, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)
- Expired
- May 29, 1997, 4:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 38 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Wharton County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:36 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
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 204 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
- 467 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -90 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 950 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -14 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 30 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 292039 RRA TORHOU TXC481-292115- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 337 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...WHARTON COUNTY AT 335 PM...PIERCE DPS REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND IN WESTERN WHARTON COUNTY 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LOUISE. MOVEMENT OF THE THUNDERSTORM CONTAINING THIS TORNADO WAS WEST SOUTHWEST AT 10 MPH. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWE@ST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. &
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 29, 2:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 29, 2:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 205 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1997 AS EXPECTED... TSTMS ON OLD FRONT/SEABREEZE HAVE HAD VERY HARD TIME MOVING INLAND THIS AFTN. ALSO AS EXPECTED... TSTMS A LITTLE LESS FRISKY TODAY THAN YDA DUE MAINLY TO CHANGES IN THERMODYNAMIC PROFILE BROUGHT ABOUT BY N WIND REGIME IN UPPER LEVELS. THIS WILL HAVE AN IMPACT AGAIN TOMOROW IN INHIBITING SEABREEZE CONVECTION IN THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON AND WILL GO WITH LOWER POPS THAN TDA. AS FOR TOMORROW NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY... WE WILL PROBABLY GET CLOBBERED BY WHAT IS SHAPING UP TO BE A PRETTY GOOD LOOKING FRONT FOR LATE MAY. AS MODELS HANDLE IT NOW... THIS WILL BE MAINLY A NOCTURNAL EVENT... HENCE WILL FAVOR HIGHEST POPS FOR FRI NIGHT. PRELIMINARIES... CLL BBTE 67/88/69/84 -273(MAINLY MORNING) IAH/HOU EETT 70/89/70/85 -36(LATE)5(MAINLY MORNING) GLS BBTE 75/86/73/82 -36(LATE)4(MAINLY MORNING)B 38
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 29, 12:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before
TXZ176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-300000- HEAVY RAINFALL OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1230 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1997 ...ISOLATED AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS TODAY... AN OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS THE UPPER COASTAL AREA WILL COMBINE WITH THE SEABREEZE TO PROVIDE A NARROW FOCUS FOR SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. IN THE MID LEVELS... AN UPPER RIDGE WILL ATTEMPT TO BUILD NORTHERLY FLOW OVER THE REGION... FURTHER INHIBITING THE NORHTWARD PROGRESS OF THE AREA OF HEAVY RAIN. THE REGIONS MOST LIKELY TO BE AFECTED BY RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE EASTERN HARRIS COUNTY INCLUDING THE HOUSTON AREA AND ITS EASTERN SUBURBS... AND SOUTHERN LIBERTY COUNTY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER WEATHER NEWS SOURCES FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WATCHES AND WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, May 29, 12:39 PM CDT, 2 hours 58 minutes before
TXZ176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-511-513-300000- HEAVY RAINFALL OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1230 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1997 ...ISOLATED AREAS OF HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS TODAY... AN OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY ACROSS THE UPPER COASTAL AREA WILL COMBINE WITH THE SEABREEZE TO PROVIDE A NARROW FOCUS FOR SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. IN THE MID LEVELS... AN UPPER RIDGE WILL ATTEMPT TO BUILD NORTHERLY FLOW OVER THE REGION... FURTHER INHIBITING THE NORHTWARD PROGRESS OF THE AREA OF HEAVY RAIN. THE REGIONS MOST LIKELY TO BE AFECTED BY RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE EASTERN HARRIS COUNTY INCLUDING THE HOUSTON AREA ANDB ITS EASTERN SUBURBS... AND SOUTHERN LIBERTY COUNTY. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER WEATHER NEWS SOURCES FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WATCHES AND WARNINGS.
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.