Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

February 12, 1998Refugio County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Feb 12, 1998, 7:52 PM CST for Refugio County, Texas. It was in force for 68 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 12, 1998, 7:52 PM CST (01:52 UTC)
Expired
Feb 12, 1998, 9:00 PM CST
In force
68 min
Issued by
NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Refugio County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:54 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 nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 68 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 1998-02-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 105 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 1998-02-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
273 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 KCRP 130152 RRA
TORCRP
TXC391-130300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
752 PM CST THU FEB 12 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...REFUGIO COUNTY
 
AT 750 PM CST DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 4 MILES EAST OF
WOODSBORO. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
THIS STORM WILL PASS OVER HIGHWAYS 136 AND 2678 BY 800 PM.
PERSONS IN BAYSIDE AND ROCKPORT-FULTON SHOULD SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Feb 12, 7:45 PM CST, 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 12, 7:45 PM CST, 7 minutes before
COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
745 PM CST THU FEB 12 1998

BUSY EVENING WITH SEVERAL SVR WARNINGS STILL ACTIVE.  NASTY STORM IN
BEE COUNTY THAT HAS PRODUCED GOLF-BALL HAIL THAT IS MOVING INTO
REFUGIO COUNTY ATTM...ANOTHER STORM IN LA SALLE COUNTY MOVING INTO
MCMULLEN AND DUVAL THAT ALSO HAS PRODUCED GOLF-BALL HAIL.  STORMS WILL
CONTINUE AHEAD OF TROF AXIS WHICH IS LOCATED NEAR LRD-COT-SAT LINE.

ONLY CHANGE IS TO UP POPS FOR CRP TO 30 FOR THIS EVENING.

PSS...82

In the hours before

Local storm report, Feb 12, 7:40 PM CST, 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
740 PM CST THU FEB 12 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0615 PM    PAWNEE                    TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
02/12/98   BEE                            REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER

0630 PM    TULETA                    TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
02/12/98   BEE                            REPORTED BY SHERIFF DEPT.

0655 PM    4 SW LOS ANGELES          TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
02/12/98   LA SALLE                       REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER

0700 PM    10 NE BEEVILLE            TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
02/12/98   BEE                            ALONG HIGHWAY 59
                                          REPORTED BY SHERIFF DEPT.

SPAULDING

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 12, 6:06 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPBee54 min
Feb 12, 6:24 PM CSTTornado WarningCRPBee51 min
Feb 12, 6:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPLa Salle60 min
Feb 12, 7:13 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPBee32 min
Feb 12, 7:27 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPRefugio63 min
Feb 12, 8:01 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPAransas59 min
Feb 12, 8:11 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPDuval64 min
Feb 12, 9:23 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPJim Wells67 min
Feb 12, 9:38 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPJim Wells, San Patricio67 min
Feb 12, 10:18 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPNueces57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.