Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 9, 1998Van Zandt County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1998, 1:01 AM CDT for Van Zandt County, Texas. It was in force for 14 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 9, 1998, 1:01 AM CDT (06:01 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1998, 1:15 AM CDT
In force: 14 min
Issued by: NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Van Zandt County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:00 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
May 9, 1:05 AM CDT	Hail 0.75	Grand Saline, TX

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
May 9, 12:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 153 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 86 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 193 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 576 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.

132 
WFUS1 KFTW 090603 RRA
TORFTW
TXC467-090615-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
101 AM CDT SAT MAY 9 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

   * TORNADO WARNING FOR
     VAN ZANDT COUNTY IN TEXAS
     INCLUDING GRAND SALINE

   * UNTIL 115 AM CDT

   * AT 1255 AM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
     DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRAND SALINE...MOVING
     EAST AT 50 MILES PER HOUR.

   * OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE VAN

LAT...LON 3262 9562 3249 9562 3264 9583 3276 9567

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 9, 12:37 AM CDT, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1137 PM CST FRI MAY 08 1998

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

0615 PM    JEAN                      TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   YOUNG

0624 PM    GRAHAM                    TX   2 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   YOUNG                          6 NORTH OF GRAHAM

0650 PM    BRYSON                    TX   4.5 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   JACK

0650 PM    JACKSBORO                 TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   JACK

0700 PM    MURRAY                    TX   2.5 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   YOUNG

0715 PM    MURRAY                    TX   2.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   YOUNG

Local storm report, May 9, 1:00 AM CDT, 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1200 AM CST SAT MAY 09 1998

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

0655 PM    JACKSBORO                 TX   WIND DAMAGE
05/08/98   JACK                           10 SE JACKSBORO POWERLINES
                                          DOWN AT US 281 & SH 199

0655 PM    JACKSBORO                 TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   JACK

0725 PM    LAKE BRIDGEPORT           TX   WIND DAMAGE
05/08/98   WISE                           6 TRAILERS OVERTURNED

0730 PM    GRAHAM                    TX   2.75 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   YOUNG                          W OF GRAHAM
0730 PM    DECATUR                   TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   WISE

0740 PM    IVAN                      TX   70 MPH TSTM GUST
05/08/98   STEPHENS                       5E OF IVAN AT 1148 & 3253

0750 PM    POSSUM KINGDOM LAKE       TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   PALO PINTO

0755 PM    KRUM                      TX   1.5 INCH HAIL
05/08/98   DENTON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Fort Worth, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Jack	50 min
May 8, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Wise	65 min
May 8, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Young	58 min
May 8, 8:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Wise	25 min
May 8, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Jack	63 min
May 8, 8:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto, Stephens	29 min
May 8, 8:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Denton	38 min
May 8, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Stephens, Young	62 min
May 8, 9:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Palo Pinto, Parker	40 min
May 8, 9:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin, Denton	59 min
May 8, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Tarrant	67 min
May 8, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Parker	29 min
May 8, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hunt	45 min
May 8, 10:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FWD	Tarrant	35 min
May 8, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Parker	47 min
May 8, 10:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Mills	44 min
May 8, 10:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Fannin	54 min
May 8, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin	37 min
May 8, 10:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Tarrant	49 min
May 8, 10:48 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FWD	Tarrant	117 min
May 8, 11:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Dallas	48 min
May 8, 11:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hunt	53 min
May 8, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Collin, Rockwall	55 min
May 8, 11:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Delta	46 min
May 8, 11:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Kaufman	53 min
May 8, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hopkins	46 min
May 9, 12:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hunt	49 min
May 9, 12:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Rains, Van Zandt	55 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.