Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 64, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 30, 1997Montgomery County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 30, 1997, 2:48 PM CST for Montgomery County, Texas. It was in force for 42 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
Oct 30, 1997, 2:48 PM CST (20:48 UTC)
Expired
Oct 30, 1997, 3:30 PM CST
In force
42 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Montgomery County, TX

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 222 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-10-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 17 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-10-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 110 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
703 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 302048 RRA
TORHOU
TXC339-302130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
248 PM CST THU OCT 30 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  330 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
AT 248 PM...RADAR AND STORM SPOTTERS REPORT A FUNNEL CLOUD IN A
DEVELOPING TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM AT THE NORTH END OF THE WOODLANDS.
MOVEMENT WAS EAST NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.  SPLENDORA IS IN THE PATH OF
THIS STORM.
 
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 FLOhOR 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 30, 9:30 AM CST, 5 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 30, 9:30 AM CST, 5 hours 18 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
930 AM CST THU OCT 30 1997

RETURNING WARM FRONT APPEARS TO BE DRAPED ACROSS SWRN PORTIONS OF OUR
FA THIS MORNING.  THIS FEATURE COMBINED WITH THE STILL INCREASING LOW
/MID LEVEL MOISTURE AND DIFFLUENCE ALOFT HAS HELPED TO PRODUCE SPOTTY
TSRA ALONG COASTAL SECTIONS THIS MORNING.  CURRENT FIRST PD POPS HAVE
THIS COVERED, BUT BREAKS IN THE CLOUD DECK AND OB TRENDS SO FAR WOULD
SEEM TO INDICATE THAT WELL HAVE TO UP TEMPS A BIT FOR THE UPDATE.  A
QUICK PEEK AT INCOMING ETA DATA AND SATELLITE LOOPS INDICATE THAT THE
CHCS FOR CONVECTION MAY PERSIST INTO THE EVENING HOURS.  WHILE THE 70
TO 100 KT UPPER JET EXITS ANOTHER S/W IN THE SUBTROPICAL FLOW APPEARS
TO BE ON ITS WAY.  FOR NOW, WILL TWEAK SECOND PD POPS ONLY A TAD.  41

PRELIMS...
CLL B/B   B/A 076/058 080/058 081 3200
IAH E/B   B/A 075/060 081/061 082 4200
GLS C/E>B B/A 075/067 078/069 079 53-0

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 30, 3:29 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXLiberty, Montgomery61 min
Oct 30, 3:50 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXBrazoria40 min
Oct 30, 4:29 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXBrazoria46 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.