Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Brownsville, TX

February 21, 1998Starr County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1998, 4:20 PM CST for Starr County, Texas. It was in force for 55 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Feb 21, 1998, 4:20 PM CST (22:20 UTC)
Expired
Feb 21, 1998, 5:15 PM CST
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Brownsville, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Starr County, TX

The radar

The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:22 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 21, 4:00 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 152 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-02-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-02-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 200 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
708 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
398 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBRO 212220 RRA
SVRBRO
TXC427-212315-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
420 PM CST SAT FEB 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE TX HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 515 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN TEXAS

   ...STARR COUNTY

AT 417 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN
AREA OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER EXTREME WESTERN STARR COUNTY.
THE MOST INTENSE STORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 13 MILES NORTH OF ROMA
AND ALL OF THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT NEAR 20 MPH.
THESE STORMS WILL AFFECT THE TOWNS OF RIO GRANDE CITY AND EL SAUZ
THROUGH 515 PM AND WILL PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

AT SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING STORM...TOWERING THUNDERHEADS...DARKENING
SKIES...LIGHTNING AND INCREASING WINDS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.
TUNE IN NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

SPEECE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Brownsville, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 21, 3:47 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBROJim Hogg, Zapata43 min
Feb 21, 4:35 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBROJim Hogg60 min
Feb 21, 4:42 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBROBrooks63 min
Feb 21, 5:18 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBROHidalgo, Starr87 min
Feb 21, 5:51 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBROBrooks, Kenedy59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.