Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 56, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 1997, 5:37 PM CDT for Polk County, Texas. It was in force for 68 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
- Oct 23, 1997, 5:37 PM CDT (22:37 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 23, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 68 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Polk County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:38 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, 6:35 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Segno, TX | Damage to trees. |
| Oct 23, 6:35 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Segno, 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 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
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 173 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
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -174 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 826 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 112 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 151 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHOU 232237 RRA TORHOU TXC373-232345- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 537 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...SOUTHERN POLK COUNTY WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATES A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM NEAR SHEPHARD MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING INTO SOUTHERN POLK COUNTY BEFORE 6 PM AND CROSSING HWY 146 EAST OF GOODRICH. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGE IN EASTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 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 Oct 23, 2:04 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 23, 2:04 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 204 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997 STG S/W CURRENTLY MOVG THRU THE NERN PTN OF THE STATE. SHEAR AND HELICITY PT TWD CONT SVR/TORNADO THREAT OVR THE CWA FOR THE REST OF THE AFT (REFERENCE LATEST TOR WARNING). EXITING JET THAT HELPED ENHANCE THE LIFT OVR THE RGN EARLIER HAS MOVD PAST ETX...HOWEVER THE NEXT JET WAS NOSING INTO THE WRN PTNS OF THE AREA ON THE WV. AS THE S/W MOVS E THIS EVE...THE ERN COUNTIES WL HAVE A CHC FOR TSTMS (SOME POSSIBLY SVR) INTO THE MID EVE HRS AT THE LATEST. THEN SIG DRYING OCCURS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NGT THRU FRI. THE H5 FLOW WL BE WRLY THRU SAT EVE...AND AS THE NEXT CDFNT APRCHS RN CHCS WL AGAIN BE POSSIBLE SAT AFT AND EVE. WITH THE JET OVHD HI CLDS CHUD STAY IN PLACE THRU THE PD. TEMPS SHUD BE HIER FRI BEFORE COOLING A BIT ON SAT AS THE FNT MOVS THRU. PL/40 PRELIMS... CLL E/B B/E 062/085 062/081 057 1--3 2ND PD DECREASING CLOUDS IAH E/B B/E 064/085 064/082 058 5--3 RN CHCS THIS EVE GLS E/B B/E 065/082 068/080 062 61-3 RN CHCS THIS EVE
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, 3:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | HGX | Austin | 62 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, 5:40 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.