Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 32, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

August 21, 1998Brazoria County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Aug 21, 1998, 5:27 PM CDT for Brazoria County, Texas. It was in force for 63 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
Aug 21, 1998, 5:27 PM CDT (22:27 UTC)
Expired
Aug 21, 1998, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties

County Brazoria County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:31 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, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 240 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 1998-08-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 317 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 1998-08-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 75 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
317 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
924 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHOU 212227 RRA
TORHOU
TXC039-212330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
527 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN BRAZORIA COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 527 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM
  NEAR ALVIN MOVING NORTHWEST AT 25 MPH.

* THIS TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MANVEL BY 550 PM CDT
  IOWA COLONY BY 600 PM CDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN
THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IN A SMALL
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.
RABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO
A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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 Aug 21, 3:25 PM CDT, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 21, 3:25 PM CDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
325 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 1998

***TROPICAL STORM CHARLEY SE OF CRP WORKING ITS WAY WNW.***

MDT-HVY RAINS HAVE MADE IT TO THE IMMEDIATE COAST AND ARE SHOWING
SIGNS OF WORKING INLAND.  VIS SATELLITE AND RADAR INDICATING MID LVL
CIRCULATION MOVING FASTER NW THAN LL CIRCULATION. AS TS CHARLEY
APPROACHES THE COAST TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL BE ON THE INCREASE IN
SETX WITH PW FCST TO APPROACH 2.2 ESPECIALLY NEAR THE COAST.  UPPER
LIFT REMAINS OVER THE REGION IN DIFFLUENT FLOW THROUGH SATURDAY.  AS
THE SYSTEM NEARS THE COAST TONIGHT/SATURDAY WIND SHEAR (HELICITY
INCREASES TO >200) BECOMES MORE FAVORABLE FOR SVR WX SO WILL NEED TO
INCLUDE THE MENTION OF SEVERE WITH TORNADOES POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT AND
SATURDAY.  HEAVY RAIN THREAT CLIMBS DRAMATICALLY WITH APPROACH OF TD
3 SO WILL GO WITH FFA FOR COASTAL AND FIRST TIER OF ZONES
INLAND...GREATEST THREAT OF HEAVY RAINS SHOULD BE ALONG AND SOUTH OF
I-10. WINDY FOR COASTAL COUNTIES TONIGHT AND SATURDAY.  TROPICAL
STORM WARNINGS WILL NEED TO CONTINUE FOR COASTAL COUNTIES FROM
MATAGORDA BAY TO HIGH ISLAND PER TPC ADVISORY.  FLOODING ALONG THE
COAST LOOKS LIKELY AS SWELLS HAVE INCREASED TO 5 TO 8 FEET...WINDS
ALONG THE COAST NE AT 15 TO 25 KNOTS HAVE PUMPED UP TIDES...
NOAA/NOS PORTS DATA SHOWS 1.7 TO 2.1 FT ABOVE ASTRONOMICAL PREDICTED
LEVELS AS OF 2 PM.  GLS REPORTED GUST OF 37 KNOTS AT 1932Z...HIGH
PROFILE VEHICLES MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH OVERPASSES. ON CURRENT
FORECAST TRACK AND TIMING THE THREAT OF RAINS TAPERING OFF ON SUNDAY
AS DRIER AIR WORKS INTO THE REGION...MAY HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT PULSE
SEVERE SUNDAY DUE TO LL MOISTURE-MID LEVEL DRYING-AND DAYTIME HEATING.

SEE CURRENT TPC PRODUCTS AND HLSHOU FOR LATEST TD 3 INFO...

45

CLL 75/92/75/91 C/C/E/B  2432

IAH 78/89/75/91 CT/C/E/E  8743
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE/BREEZY/FFA SOME SVR WITH TORNADOES
POSSIBLE TONIGHT AND SATURDAY

GLS 79/87/79/89 CTN/CTN/E/E ++54
WINDY TONIGHT AND SATURDAY/LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY FFA/SOME SVR
WITH TORNADOES POSSIBLE TONIGHT AND SATURDAY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 20, 7:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXFort Bend, Wharton67 min
Aug 20, 8:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXColorado34 min
Aug 20, 8:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXJackson63 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.