Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

February 18, 1998Calhoun County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Feb 18, 1998, 9:03 PM CST for Calhoun County, Texas. It was in force for 57 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 18, 1998, 9:03 PM CST (03:03 UTC)
Expired: Feb 18, 1998, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Calhoun County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:04 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 274 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 794 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 82 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

040 
WFUS1 KCRP 190304 RRA
TORCRP
TXC057-190400-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
903 PM CST WED FEB 18 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...CALHOUN COUNTY
 
AT 905 PM CST DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF SEA
DRIFT OR JUST SOUTHWEST OF THE TOWN OF MCFADDIN. THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE TOWNS OF LONG MOTT AND SEA DRIFT
BY 925 PM. GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
 
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 18, 8:10 PM CST, 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 18, 8:10 PM CST, 53 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
810 PM CST WED FEB 18 1998

NO TIME TO TALK.  WILL UPDATE VCT AREA WITH 40% POPS SOME SVR.
WILL UPDATE CRP ZONES...WITH 30% POPS...SOME SVR FOR STORMS FIRING TO
THE NW.  WILL UPDATE LASALLE...MCMULLEN AND DUVAL WITH 30% CHC OF
STORMS...SOME SVR BASED ON LATEST TRENDS AND BACKBUILDING INTO FRIO
COUNTY.  WEBB COUNTY LOOKS TO GET MISSED.  COULD BE A LONG EVENING.

JM...075

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 18, 6:22 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Live Oak	68 min
Feb 18, 7:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Goliad	63 min
Feb 18, 8:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Goliad	45 min
Feb 18, 8:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Victoria	76 min
Feb 18, 8:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	CRP	Refugio	67 min
Feb 18, 9:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Live Oak	66 min
Feb 18, 9:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	La Salle	44 min
Feb 18, 10:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Bee, Goliad	58 min
Feb 18, 10:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Refugio, Victoria	50 min
Feb 18, 11:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP	Aransas, Calhoun	57 min

Nearby

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