Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 23

January 23, 19978 parishes in Louisiana; 36 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 23, 1997, 4:45 PM CST for 8 parishes in Louisiana; 36 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 23, 1997, 4:45 PM CST (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Jan 23, 1997, 11:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 44 counties

Beauregard Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Anderson County, TX, Angelina County, TX, Austin County, TX, Bastrop County, TX, Brazos County, TX, Burleson County, TX, Caldwell County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Cherokee County, TX, Fayette County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Harris County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Lee County, TX, Leon County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Madison County, TX, Milam County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Newton County, TX, Orange County, TX, Polk County, TX, Robertson County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Shelby County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Walker County, TX, Waller County, TX, Washington County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 4:48 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Newton	27 min
Jan 23, 5:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	55 min
Jan 23, 5:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Anderson	43 min
Jan 23, 5:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Cherokee	50 min
Jan 23, 6:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Anderson	54 min
Jan 23, 6:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Nacogdoches	31 min
Jan 23, 6:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	SHV	De Soto, Sabine	37 min
Jan 23, 6:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Nacogdoches, Rusk	35 min

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 242 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: 115 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 553 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

818 
WWUS9 KMKC 232217
SEL3  
MKC WW 232217
TXZ000-LAZ000-240500-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 23
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO
417 PM CST THU JAN 23 1997

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

   PARTS OF EASTERN TEXAS                              
   PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA                         


EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 1100 PM CST.

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


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 120 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES SOUTH OF COLLEGE STATION TEXAS TO 70 MILES
NORTH NORTHWEST OF FORT POLK LOUISIANA.

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 1 3/4
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 450.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 24040.

D...THUNDERSTORMS WILL INTENSIFY ALONG WARM FRONT AND AHEAD OF
SURFACE TROF MOVING INTO REGION OF MOIST UNSTABLE AIR MASS. CAPES
ARE FROM 1000 TO 2000 J/KG AND MID LEVEL FLOW SHOULD INCREASE TO
ABOVE 60 KTS AHEAD OF APPROACHING MID LEVEL VORT MAX. 

E...OTR TSTMS...  CONT..WW 0022..

...ROGASH

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 23, 2:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anderson, Bastrop, Bell, Brazos, Burleson, Camp and 39 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 1997 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 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.