Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

January 5, 1998Polk County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jan 5, 1998, 5:49 PM CST for Polk County, Texas. It was in force for 51 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
Jan 5, 1998, 5:49 PM CST (23:49 UTC)
Expired
Jan 5, 1998, 6:40 PM CST
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Polk County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:49 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 173 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1998-01-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 871 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1998-01-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 137 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
871 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
480 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
152 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

353 
WFUS1 KHOU 052350 RRA
TORHOU
TXC373-060035-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
549 PM CST MON JAN 5 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 640 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

   ...POLK COUNTY

AT 547 PM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM NEAR LEGGETT AND
WAS MOVING TO THE EAST-NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED
AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jan 5, 1:56 PM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 5, 1:56 PM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
156 PM CST MON JAN 5 1998

STATIONARY FRONT DRAPED ACROSS THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF TX WITH TEMPS
IN THE 50S...HERE IN SETX TEMPS HAVE MADE IT TO THE MID 70S WITH DWPTS
OF 68 TO 72. ATMOSPHERE VERY UNSTABLE WITH LI -6 TO -8 AND MODIFIED
CAPES OF 2700 S/W ON THE WAY FROM S TX SHOULD PROVIDE THE NEEDED LIFT
TO GET THE SCATTERED SHRA MORE ORGANIZED BY LATE AFTERNOON ALONG THE
I-10 CORRIDOR AND A SECOND AREA FURTHER NORTH BUT NOT AS ORGANIZED.
THIS S/W SHOULD EXIT THE REGION BY MID-EVENING. FOG WILL LIKELY
REDEVELOP AGAIN TONIGHT WITH PATCHY DENSE FOG LIKELY. WILL LET EVENING
SHIFT ISSUE DENSE FOG ADVISORY AS IT DEVELOPS. MAIN TROUGH AXIS WILL
APPROACH THE REGION TUESDAY WITH A POTENT S/W ROTATING OUT ACROSS THE
REGION HELPING TO CREATE THE COUPLED JET STRUCTURE OVER SETX ON
TUESDAY...EXPECT A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS TO PROCEED FRONT. PACIFIC
FRONT WILL COME SWEEPING INTO THE EXTREME NW FA TUE
LATE AFTERNOON AND TO THE COAST AROUND 10Z.  MOISTURE WILL BE SLOW TO
EXIT SO WILL HAVE MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES ON WED AND CLEARING ON THURSDAY.
 HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING AND MORESO ON
TUESDAY WILL REQUIRE EXPANDING THE FFA NORTHWARD...ALTHOUGH THE
NORTHERN AREA WONT BE UNDER THE GUN UNTIL TUESDAY FROM THE LOOKS OF
THINGS.  TEMPS WILL BE ON THE WARM SIDE AGAIN WITH THE WAA GOING
ON...RECORD HIGH MINS LIKELY TONIGHT. BACK DOWN TO SEASONABLE ON
WEDNESDAY AND THEN COOLER ON SATURDAY AS REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE.

AGREE WITH SPC ON ONLY MINIMAL SEVERE POTENTIAL FOR TUESDAY WITH WET
MICROBURSTS AND PERHAPS SMALL HAIL BUT WILL HOLD OFF AND LET MID
SHIFT MAKE THE CALL ON THAT.

MARINE...S WINDS INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KNOTS TONIGHT AND S AT 15
TUESDAY...FOR WEDNESDAY MORNING SCA CRITERIA WILL LIKELY BE MET WITH
NNW WINDS 20 GUSTING TO 30 KNOTS...AND CHAOTIC SEAS OF 5 TO 8 FEET AND BUILDING.

45

PRELIMS...
PATCHY DENSE FOG TONIGHT/TUESDAY MORNING ALL ZONES
+RA POSSIBLE ALL ZONES THROUGH TUESDAY

CLL CF F>E/E E 065 068/051 056 685-
IAH CF F>E/E E 066 071/053 056 6872
GLS CF F>E/E E 067 071/058 056 5772

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 5, 4:14 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXSan Jacinto, Walker61 min
Jan 5, 4:42 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXMadison68 min
Jan 5, 4:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk59 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.