Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 49, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 1997, 3:28 PM CDT for Austin County, Texas. It was in force for 62 min. 1 report 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
- Oct 23, 1997, 3:28 PM CDT (20:28 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 23, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Austin County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:27 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 23, 3:43 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Bellville, TX | Trees blown down. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 23, 2:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 261 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
- 1605 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 543 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 123 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 6.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 232028 RRA TORHOU TXC015-232130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 328 PM CDT THU OCT 23 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 SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...AUSTIN COUNTY AT 326 PM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BELLVILLE. THIS STORM WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 3O MPH. BELLVILLE AND CAT SPRING ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. DO NOT USE YOUR VEHICLE TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. VEHICLES ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE VEHICLE AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 23, 11:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Liberty | 57 min |
| Oct 23, 1:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Fort Bend | 53 min |
| Oct 23, 2:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Harris | 57 min |
| Oct 23, 2:19 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Harris | 56 min |
| Oct 23, 2:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Liberty | 60 min |
| Oct 23, 2:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Grimes, Walker | 62 min |
| Oct 23, 3:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Harris | 63 min |
| Oct 23, 3:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Liberty | 62 min |
| Oct 23, 3:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Waller | 55 min |
| Oct 23, 3:51 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Trinity | 69 min |
| Oct 23, 4:08 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Harris, Montgomery | 67 min |
| Oct 23, 5:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Liberty, San Jacinto | 59 min |
| Oct 23, 5:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Montgomery | 63 min |
| Oct 23, 5:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Polk | 68 min |
| Oct 23, 5:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | San Jacinto | 65 min |
| Oct 23, 5:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Liberty | 47 min |
| Oct 23, 6:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Polk | 35 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.