Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
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.
- 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
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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 5, 4:14 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | San Jacinto, Walker | 61 min |
| Jan 5, 4:42 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Madison | 68 min |
| Jan 5, 4:56 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Polk | 59 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.