Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 131

April 4, 199725 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 4, 1997, 1:45 PM CST for 25 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 4, 1997, 1:45 PM CST (19:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 1997, 8:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Bosque County, TX, Collin County, TX, Comanche County, TX, Dallas County, TX, Denton County, TX, Ellis County, TX, Erath County, TX, Hamilton County, TX, Hill County, TX, Hood County, TX, Hopkins County, TX, Hunt County, TX, Johnson County, TX, Kaufman County, TX, Limestone County, TX, McLennan County, TX, Mills County, TX, Navarro County, TX, Parker County, TX, Rains County, TX, Rockwall County, TX, Somervell County, TX, Tarrant County, TX, Van Zandt County, TX, Wise County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:46 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.

Warnings issued inside it

13 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 2:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Comanche, Erath	57 min
Apr 4, 3:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Parker	57 min
Apr 4, 3:10 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Parker	2 hr
Apr 4, 3:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Erath	62 min
Apr 4, 3:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hood	67 min
Apr 4, 4:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Denton	49 min
Apr 4, 4:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Tarrant	57 min
Apr 4, 4:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	FWD	Denton, Grayson	50 min
Apr 4, 5:15 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Tarrant	2 hr
Apr 4, 6:03 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Ellis, Johnson	3 hr
Apr 4, 7:07 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Collin, Dallas, Kaufman, Rockwall	5 hr
Apr 4, 7:07 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Hunt	5 hr
Apr 4, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Kaufman	63 min

The nearest sounding before it

Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 337 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 78 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 267 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 300 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

524 
WWUS9 KMKC 041922
SEL1  
MKC WW 041922
TXZ000-050200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 131
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
122 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997

A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR

   PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS                              

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 800 PM CST.

TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF WACO TEXAS TO 30 MILES
NORTH NORTHEAST OF DALLAS TEXAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
$$

C...TORNADOES AND A FEW SVR TSTMS WITH HAIL SFC AND ALF TO 2
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 480.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 21035.

D...TSTMS XPCD TO INCR IN COVERAGE/INTNSTY NXT FEW HRS AS DSTBLZN
ASSOCD WITH SFC HTG CONTS.  STGST ACTVTY LKLY TO CONCENTRATE INVOF
DVLPG SFC TRIPLE POINT NOW NR SEP...WITH STMS DVLPG PRIMARLY E OR
ENEWD ALG WK WRM FNT JUST S OF FTW.   

E...OTR TSTMS...MONITORING PARTS OF CNTRL AND E CNTRL TX FOR PSBL
WW LTR...  

...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 2:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Anderson, Angelina, Bastrop, Bell, Brazos, Burleson and 28 more	6 hr
Apr 4, 3:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Burnet, Comal, Coryell and 16 more	6 hr
Apr 4, 5:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Collin and 27 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.