Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 39, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jun 17, 1997, 11:52 AM CDT for Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 68 min. 8 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
- Jun 17, 1997, 11:52 AM CDT (16:52 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 17, 1997, 1:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 68 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 16:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 11:55 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 | Houston, TX | 6 minor injuries due to flying broken glass at One Shell Plaza in downtown Houston. |
| Jun 17, 11:55 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 | Houston, TX | 2 minor injuries due to flying broken glass at 500 Jefferson St. in downtown Houston. |
| Jun 17, 12:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Houston, TX | Trees and fences blown down along Westheimer. 5 car windows also broken from flying debris. |
| Jun 17, 12:05 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 | Houston, TX | Large trees and powerlines blown down in the Galleria area. |
| Jun 17, 12:15 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Houston, TX | 1000's of trees blown down throughout the Houston area, some on cars and houses. Small wall collapsed at the Astrodome. |
| Jun 17, 12:30 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Deer Park, TX | McDonalds sign blown down. |
| Jun 17, 12:30 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Clear Lake City, TX | Trees uprooted area-wide from 2900 block of Bay Area Blvd. to Red Bluff. Signs and trees blown down at Clear Lake High School. |
| Jun 17, 12:35 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Clear Lake City, TX | Garage doors and trees blown down at NASA. Several car windows also broken due to flying debris. |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 10:30 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 4.9 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3576 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 642 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 85 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 12.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 171649 RRA TORHOU TXC201-171800- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1152 AM CDT TUE JUN 17 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 100 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...HARRIS COUNTY AT 1150 AM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO APPROACHING THE INTERSECTION OF WEST LOOP 610 AND HIGHWAY 290. THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE EAST SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS WILL CROSS THE NORTHWEST PORTION OF DOWNTOWN TO THE NORTH LOOP. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF bTHIS 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 5:28 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Madison | 62 min |
| Jun 17, 5:38 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Houston | 22 min |
| Jun 17, 5:52 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Trinity | 68 min |
| Jun 17, 6:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Polk | 61 min |
| Jun 17, 7:26 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Austin, Grimes, Waller, Washington | 64 min |
| Jun 17, 7:46 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Harris, Montgomery | 59 min |
| Jun 17, 8:09 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Polk | 36 min |
| Jun 17, 8:43 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto | 62 min |
| Jun 17, 9:08 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Burleson, Washington | 67 min |
| Jun 17, 10:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Austin, Washington | 55 min |
| Jun 17, 10:19 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Montgomery, Waller | 56 min |
| Jun 17, 10:46 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Austin, Colorado | 59 min |
| Jun 17, 11:18 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Harris | 57 min |
| Jun 17, 11:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Austin, Colorado | 66 min |
| Jun 17, 12:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Chambers | 62 min |
| Jun 17, 12:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Galveston | 56 min |
| Jun 17, 12:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Brazoria | 63 min |
| Jun 17, 1:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Chambers, Galveston | 67 min |
| Jun 17, 6:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Wharton | 66 min |
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.