Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 28, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

October 17, 1998Bastrop County, Lee County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 17, 1998, 1:15 PM CDT for Bastrop County, Lee County, Texas. It was in force for 60 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Oct 17, 1998, 1:15 PM CDT (18:15 UTC)
Expired
Oct 17, 1998, 2:15 PM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area
Whole counties

Counties Bastrop County, TX, Lee County, TX

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Oct 17, 1:30 PM CDTTornado F1Elgin, TXA very small and short-lived tornado struck briefly near Elgin. It destroyed a mobile home and knocked over several trees before lifting back into the parent thunderstorm. The only reported injury was to a baby in the mobile home.
Oct 17, 2:10 PM CDTTornado F1Elgin, TXA second small, narrow and short-lived tornado was reported over thirty minutes after the first tornado. It also formed in the Elgin area and stayed on the ground about two minutes. It moved into a light residential area, destroying one home, then lifted u

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 276 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 12:00Z on 1998-10-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2241 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 1998-10-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 90 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2241 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
529 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
4.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

813 
WFUS1 KSAT 171817 RRA
TORSAT

TXC021-287-171915-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
115 PM CDT SAT OCT 17 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BASTROP IN TEXAS
  LEE IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 215 PM CDT

* AT AT 110 PM CDT AT TORNADO WAS INDICATED 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  BASTROP... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO ... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  BASTROP AT 120 PM CDT
  PAIGE AT 130 PM CDT
  LINCOLN AT 150 PM CDT

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.


IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY STURDY
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT... SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT...
DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. BEWARE
THE THREAT OF RISING WATER.

PASHOS

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 Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Oct 16, 7:25 PM CDT, 17 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 16, 7:25 PM CDT, 17 hours 50 minutes before
COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
725 PM CDT FRI OCT 16 1998

EXPECT ISOLATED SHOWERS TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE CWA...MAINLY OVR THE
COSATAL WATERS...OVERNIGHT IN RESPONSE TO INFLUX OF MSTR FROM THE
GULF AND TROPICAL CONNECTION FROM MADELINE. CURRENT TEMP FCST FOR
TNGT LOOKS GOOD BASED ON CURRENT LAPS DEW POINT TREND PAST FEW
HOURS. ETA MODEL SOUNDINGS PROG LOW LVL CONDITIONS CLOSE TO DRY
ADIABATIC OVERNIGHT OVR THE COASTAL BEND WHICH MAY KEEP WINDS UP
OVERNIGHT ALG THE COAST...HWR CURRENT FCST OF WNDS LOOK REASONABLE
ATTM. NO CHGS ATTM.

ALTHOUGH MODELS PROG WEAK SHRTWVS ACRS THE CWA SAT...THE MAIN
DYNAMIC INFLUENCE SAT WL LIKELY BE THE RRQ OF UPR JET STREAK PROGD
BY ALL SOLNS TO MOV ACRS CNTRL TX. IN ADDITION...THE LLJ WL PERSIST
SAT AND COMBINE WITH THE UPSTREAM SFC FNT...AND UPR DISTURBANCE...
TO ENHANCE MSTR CONVERGENCE OVR CNTRL TX. THUS HEAVY RAIN IS PSBL
OVR THE NRN CWA SAT AFTN/NGT. HVY RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE OVR THE WRN
CWA AS THE AVN...AND TO A LESSOR EXTENT THE NGM...PROG AN INCREASE
IN 850 THETA-E ACRS THE WRN CWA DRG THE DAY SAT. THE COMBINATION OF
LOW LVL THETA-E RDGS AND MID LVL MSTR...SEEN ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY
FM THE TROPICAL CONNECTION...IS CONDUSIVE TO HVY RAIN. THUS THE
NRN/WRN CWA SHOULD BE MONITORED FOR PSBL FLASH FLOOD WATCH SAT. WND
ADVISORY CRITERIA PSBL AGAIN SAT AS 850 MB 35 KT WNDS MIX DOWNWARD.

87

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 17, 6:28 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar, Blanco, Comal3 hr
Oct 17, 8:08 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXAtascosa, Frio, Medina2 hr
Oct 17, 8:27 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar, Comal, Hays4 hr
Oct 17, 8:27 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXTravis, Williamson4 hr
Oct 17, 10:41 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBastrop, Caldwell, Guadalupe6 hr
Oct 17, 12:19 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBurnet, Travis, Williamson6 hr
Oct 17, 12:19 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar, Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kendall6 hr
Oct 17, 12:37 PM CDTTornado WarningEWXCaldwell63 min
Oct 17, 4:29 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXCaldwell, Guadalupe6 hr
Oct 17, 4:29 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBastrop6 hr
Oct 17, 4:45 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXFayette, Gonzales6 hr
Oct 17, 5:57 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXLavaca6 hr
Oct 17, 6:22 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXLee5 hr
Oct 17, 6:31 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBlanco, Comal, Hays, Travis5 hr
Oct 17, 6:31 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBurnet, Williamson5 hr
Oct 17, 6:31 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar, Kendall5 hr

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.