Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Corpus Christi, TX

February 21, 1998Jim Wells County, Texas

NWS Corpus Christi, TX issued this tornado warning at Feb 21, 1998, 5:10 AM CST for Jim Wells County, Texas. It was in force for 50 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, 5:10 AM CST (11:10 UTC)
Expired
Feb 21, 1998, 6:00 AM CST
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS Corpus Christi, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Jim Wells County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:11 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, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 74 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 1998-02-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-02-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 50 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1273 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 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.

474 
WFUS1 KCRP 212311
TORCRP
TXC249-211200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
510 AM CST SAT FEB 21 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CORPUS CHRISTI HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY......
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
 
   ...SOUTHERN JIM WELLS COUNTY
 
DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO MOVING INTO SOUTHERN JIM WELLS
COUNTY ALONG HIGHWAY 716 AND THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE PREMONT
AREA BY 530 PM CST.
 
DPS REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND ALONG HIGHWAY 1329 SOUTH OF
RIOS IN SOUTHERN DUVAL COUNTY.
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
 
 
&

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 21, 2:55 AM CST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 21, 2:55 AM CST, 2 hours 15 minutes before
COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
255 AM CST SAT FEB 21 1998

...SPC HAS PLACED A LARGE PART OF SOUTH TEXAS IN A MODERATE RISK OF
SEVERE WX WITH THE REST OF THE AREA IN A SLIGHT RISK...SEE SWODY1...
A STRONG/COLD UPPER LOW LOCATED ON THE ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO BORDER TO
MOVE EAST-SOUTHEAST TODAY TO A POSITION NEAR DRT BY 0Z SUNDAY.  AS
THIS LOW PLOWS INTO INCREASING GULF MOISTURE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP.  PARAMETERS IN PLACE FOR
SEVERE WEATHER...CAPES 1500-2000...STRONG DIFFLUENT FLOW ALOFT...LOW
WET BULB ZEROS (7000) AND A HODOGRAPH THAT POINTS TO SUPERCELLS WITH
TORNADOES POSSIBLE.  SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL OCCUR THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING...WILL ISSUE SPS AND HIGHLIGHT THE THREAT OF TORNADOES
AROUND 6 AM.

LOW TO MOVE EASTWARD SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...BEHIND THIS SYSTEM
MUCH DRIER AIR MOVES IN BOTH AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT.  HOWEVER JUST
LIKE THE PAST SYSTEMS WITH VERY COLD AIR ALOFT CAN NOT RULE OUT AN
ISOLATED TSRA IN THE FAR EASTERN ZONES SUNDAY AFTERNOON.  AFTER THIS
A QUIET COUPLE OF DAYS ON TAP FOR MONDAY/TUESDAY AS A RIDGE DEVELOPS
AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM HEADED THIS WAY BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.

WRKZONES...
.TODAY...CLOUDY AND WINDY.  50 CHANCE OF TSRA FOR LRD...SOME POSSIBLY
SEVERE.  SE WIND NEAR 15 BECOMING W LATE IN THE AFTERNOON.  TSRA
DEVELOPING IN THE AFTERNOON FOR CRP/VCT...60 CHANCE FOR CRP AND  80
CHANCE FOR VCT...SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE.  SE WIND 15-25 MPH AND GUSTY
CAUTION ADVISED.  LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN THIS AFTERNOON FOR CRP AND VCT.

TONIGHT...THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY THIS EVENING...SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE
WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN....FOR CRP/VCT.  RAIN ENDING AND DECREASING
CLOUDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  WIND BECOMING W 10-15.  LRD...PARTLY CLOUDY.
W WIND NEAR 10.

.SUNDAY...SUNNY SKIES FOR CRP AND LRD.  PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A LESS THAN
20 CHANCE OF SHRA/TSRA.  W WIND NEAR 15 FOR CRP...W-NW WIND NEAR 10
FOR LRD AND W WIND 10-15.

TEMPS AND POPS...
CRP  TU  072/047 074/046 079  6700
LRD  TB  072/049 077/049 081  5-00
VCT  TB  067/047 070/045 077  8810
LUNA...0074

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 21, 3:48 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPDuval57 min
Feb 21, 3:55 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPLa Salle, Webb50 min
Feb 21, 4:00 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPMcMullen90 min
Feb 21, 4:28 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPJim Wells, Live Oak77 min
Feb 21, 4:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPDuval60 min
Feb 21, 4:45 PM CSTTornado WarningCRPLive Oak, McMullen45 min
Feb 21, 4:58 PM CSTTornado WarningCRPDuval47 min
Feb 21, 5:10 PM CSTTornado WarningCRPJim Wells50 min
Feb 21, 5:33 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPLive Oak57 min
Feb 21, 5:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPKleberg65 min
Feb 21, 5:47 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPBee58 min
Feb 21, 5:48 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRPDuval42 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.