Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997
Tornado Watch 48
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 20, 1997, 11:00 AM CST for 38 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 20, 1997, 11:00 AM CST (17:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 20, 1997, 5:00 PM CST
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 38 counties
Atascosa County, TX, Austin County, TX, Bastrop County, TX, Bee County, TX, Bexar County, TX, Blanco County, TX, Brazoria County, TX, Caldwell County, TX, Calhoun County, TX, Colorado County, TX, Comal County, TX, DeWitt County, TX, Fayette County, TX, Fort Bend County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Gillespie County, TX, Goliad County, TX, Gonzales County, TX, Guadalupe County, TX, Harris County, TX, Hays County, TX, Jackson County, TX, Karnes County, TX, Kendall County, TX, Lavaca County, TX, Lee County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Live Oak County, TX, Matagorda County, TX, McMullen County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Refugio County, TX, Travis County, TX, Victoria County, TX, Waller County, TX, Washington County, TX, Wharton County, TX, Wilson County, TX
The radar
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:04 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
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 1:47 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Austin | 118 min |
| Feb 20, 3:05 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Austin, Colorado, Washington | 3 hr |
| Feb 20, 4:04 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Waller | 116 min |
| Feb 20, 4:25 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Montgomery, Walker | 3 hr |
| Feb 20, 4:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Fort Bend, Harris | 58 min |
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 204 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
- 703 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -29 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 514 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 211 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 2.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
263 WWUS9 KMKC 201618 SEL8 MKC WW 201618 TXZ000-202300- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 48 STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1018 AM CST THU FEB 20 1997 A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PARTS OF SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON UNTIL 500 PM CST. TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF SAN ANTONIO TEXAS TO GALVESTON 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 500. MEAN WIND VECTOR 21045. D...TSTMS XPCD TO INCR RPDLY EARLY THIS AFTN ACRS SCTRL TX AS VIGOROUS UPR SYS EJECTS OUT OF MEX. AMS VERY MOIST AND UNSTBL WITH FVRBL WIND PROFILES FOR SUPERCELLS AND TORNADOES. E...OTR TSTMS... CONT..WW 46.. ...HALES
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 19, 9:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atascosa, Bandera, Bee, Bexar, Crockett, Dimmit and 18 more | 5 hr |
| Feb 20, 5:00 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atascosa, Bastrop, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque and 56 more | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 11:00 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Anderson, Bell, Bosque, Brazos, Burleson, Burnet and 34 more | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 3:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Anderson, Angelina, Bowie, Brazoria, Camp, Cass and 43 more | 6 hr |
Nearby
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.