Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1998, 2:23 PM CST for Lee County, Texas. It was in force for 52 min. 5 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
- Jan 21, 1998, 2:23 PM CST (20:23 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 21, 1998, 3:15 PM CST
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lee County, TX
The radar
The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:27 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2:30 PM CST | Hail 1.75 | Lexington, TX | |
| Jan 21, 2:56 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Dime Box, TX | A short-lived tornado was sighted by the public just west of Dime Box. No damage was reported. |
| Jan 21, 3:07 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Lexington, TX | A second short-lived tornado was sighted just northeast of Lexington by several members of the public. |
| Jan 21, 3:09 PM CST | Tornado F1 | Dime Box, TX | A third tornado touched down near Dime Box. It was spotted by a constable who reported that it destroyed a barn and several sheds across a city block, taking off tin roofs. tossing lumber about and knocking down fences. |
| Jan 21, 3:12 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Lexington, TX | A final, very short-lived tornado was spotted by a Sheriff's Deputy just north of Lexington. |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2:15 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 282 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 45 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 500 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 154 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
409 WFUS1 KSAT 212024 RRA TORSAT TXC287-212115- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 223 PM CST WED JAN 21 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 315 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ...LEE COUNTY AT 220 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN WESTERN LEE COUNTY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 21 NEAR WEST YEGUA CREEK. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 TO 25 MPH AND WILL REACH LEXINGTON AFTER 245 PM. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE COVER.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 1:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Bastrop | 58 min |
| Jan 21, 1:59 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Lee | 46 min |
| Jan 21, 5:54 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Llano | 66 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.