Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 344

May 27, 199731 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 27, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT for 31 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 27, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1997, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 31 counties

Aransas County, TX, Atascosa County, TX, Bee County, TX, Bexar County, TX, Calhoun County, TX, DeWitt County, TX, Dimmit County, TX, Duval County, TX, Frio County, TX, Goliad County, TX, Gonzales County, TX, Guadalupe County, TX, Jackson County, TX, Jim Wells County, TX, Karnes County, TX, Kinney County, TX, La Salle County, TX, Lavaca County, TX, Live Oak County, TX, Maverick County, TX, McMullen County, TX, Medina County, TX, Nueces County, TX, Refugio County, TX, San Patricio County, TX, Uvalde County, TX, Victoria County, TX, Webb County, TX, Wharton County, TX, Wilson County, TX, Zavala County, TX

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:02 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EWX	Dimmit	85 min
May 27, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Live Oak, McMullen	66 min
May 27, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Bee	66 min
May 27, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	61 min
May 27, 9:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EWX	Karnes	3 hr
May 27, 9:40 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	Webb	65 min
May 27, 9:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	65 min
May 27, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Goliad, Victoria	62 min
May 27, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Duval, Jim Wells	58 min
May 27, 10:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	San Patricio	68 min
May 27, 11:04 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	CRP	Webb	41 min
May 27, 11:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Webb	41 min

The nearest sounding before it

Del Rio, TX (KDRT), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 293 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: 5979 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 887 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 6.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

351 
WWUS9 KMKC 280123
SEL4  
MKC WW 280123
TXZ000-280800-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 344
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
823 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS                              
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 900 PM
UNTIL 300 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 140 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF SAN ANTONIO TEXAS TO 10
MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF ALICE 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 340.  WATCH NUMBER 340 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 900 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 339...WW 342...WW 343...

DISCUSSION...COMPLEX OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES TO PROPAGATE
SOUTHWARD ACROSS SOUTHERN TEXAS...WITH OTHER SEVERE STORMS NEAR THE
LRD AREA.  STORMS ARE MOVING THROUGH VERY UNSTABLE AIR MASS WITH
LIFTED INDEX TO -11.  ALTHOUGH WINDS ALOFT ARE RELATIVELY WEAK
RADARS CONTINUE TO SHOW ROTATION IN SOME STORMS SUGGESTING
POTENTIAL FOR A FEW TORNADOES.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 650. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 33015.


...WEISS

293,0961 273,0954 273,1001 293,1005

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Anderson, Angelina, Brazos, Cherokee, Freestone, Gregg and 20 more	6 hr
May 27, 10:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brooks, Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Kleberg and 3 more	5 hr
May 28, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Austin, Colorado, DeWitt, Fort Bend, Goliad, Jackson and 6 more	6 hr
May 28, 5:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Andrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro and 29 more	5 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.