Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997
Tornado Watch 82
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 1, 1997, 10:15 PM CST for 36 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 1, 1997, 10:15 PM CST (04:15 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 2, 1997, 4:00 AM CST
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 36 counties
Atascosa County, TX, Austin County, TX, Bastrop County, TX, Bexar County, TX, Blanco County, TX, Brazos County, TX, Burleson County, TX, Caldwell County, TX, Colorado County, TX, Comal County, TX, DeWitt County, TX, Fayette County, TX, Frio County, TX, Gillespie County, TX, Gonzales County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Guadalupe County, TX, Harris County, TX, Hays County, TX, Houston County, TX, Karnes County, TX, Kendall County, TX, Lavaca County, TX, Lee County, TX, Leon County, TX, Madison County, TX, Medina County, TX, Milam County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Robertson County, TX, Travis County, TX, Walker County, TX, Waller County, TX, Washington County, TX, Williamson County, TX, Wilson County, TX
The radar
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:15 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
7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 10:49 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Frio | 56 min |
| Mar 1, 11:49 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Medina | 56 min |
| Mar 2, 12:15 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Frio | 60 min |
| Mar 2, 1:01 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Comal | 59 min |
| Mar 2, 1:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Hays | 61 min |
| Mar 2, 1:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Bexar | 64 min |
| Mar 2, 1:49 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Kendall | 56 min |
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 272 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
- 1612 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -132 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1104 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -108 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 1 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- -0.5
- Supercell composite
- -4.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
186 WWUS9 KMKC 020344 SEL2 MKC WW 020344 TXZ000-021000- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 82 STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 944 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997 A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING UNTIL 400 AM 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 NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 5 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF HONDO TEXAS TO 60 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF COLLEGE STATION 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 450. MEAN WIND VECTOR 23040. D...CNVTN XPCD TO INCR IN COVERAGE/INTENSITY DURG THE OVRNGT HRS AS MIDLVL COOLG AND SPD MAX ASSOCD WITH W TX SHRTWV TROF SPRD E ABV MDTLY MOIST AIR IN E TX. INITIAL ACTVTY IN WRN PART OF WW XCPD TO CONTAIN LRG HAIL/HI WNDS...WITH TORNADO POTENTIAL INCRG EWD ACRS WW...WHERE ELY FLOW AHD OF INVERTED SFC TROF WL ENHANCE LOLVL STM- RELATIVE FLOW. SFC CDFNT DROPPING S THRU CNTRL TX SHUD FORCE MAIN FOCUS FOR DVLPMT EWD/SWD WITH TIME. E...OTR TSTMS... CONT..WW 80..WW 81.. ...CORFIDI
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 6:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bowie, Camp, Cass, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison and 6 more | 3 hr |
| Mar 1, 11:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Aransas, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Duval, Fort Bend and 14 more | 5 hr |
| Mar 2, 9:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Angelina, Cherokee, Gregg, Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson and 10 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.