Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Fort Worth, TX

January 21, 1999Limestone County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1999, 9:53 PM CST for Limestone County, Texas. It was in force for 37 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: Jan 21, 1999, 9:53 PM CST (03:53 UTC)
Expired: Jan 21, 1999, 10:30 PM CST
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Limestone County, TX

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:55 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

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 164 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: 3099 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KFTW 220352 RRA
TORFTW
TXC293-220430-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
953 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LIMESTONE COUNTY IN TEXAS

* UNTIL 1030 PM CST

* AT 953 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  GROESBECK...MOVING EAST AT 60 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE GROESBECK

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW
SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

IF IN A MOBILE HOME...EVACUATE AND GET INSIDE A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.
IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER
LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LAT...LON 3152 9660 3144 9658 3150 9629 3161 9638

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

Special weather statement, Jan 21, 4:53 PM CST, 5 hours before

TXZ094-095-105>107-122-123-135-148-220100-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
453 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT FOR THAT PART OF NORTH TEXAS ALONG AND EAST OF A
BONHAM...GREENVILLE...ATHENS LINE.  THIS SLIGHT RISK AREA INCLUDES
PARIS...COOPER...CANTON AND SULPHUR SPRINGS.

THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE FROM LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND
POSSIBLY A TORNADO OR TWO.  HOWEVER...A GREATER THREAT OF TORNADOES
WILL EXIST FURTHER EAST...IN A HIGH RISK AREA FROM NEAR TEXARKANA
EAST AND NORTHEAST INTO ARKANSAS AND LOUISIANA.

A VERY STRONG UPPER LEVEL LOW WAS MOVING INTO WEST TEXAS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAD ALREADY DEVELOPED ACROSS MUCH
OF ARKANSAS...WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF
OKLAHOMA. A SURFACE LOW WILL TRACK EAST ALONG THE RED RIVER THIS
EVENING AND THIS FEATURE MAY ALLOW THE THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA TO DEVELOP SOUTHWARD INTO THE OUTLOOK AREA.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICES AND STORM SPOTTERS MAY BE ACTIVATED
EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS THE SLIGHT RISK AREA. NORTHEAST TEXAS
RESIDENTS SHOULD MONITOR THEIR NOAA WEATHER RADIO...RADIO...TV...AND
CABLE TV STATIONS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THIS DANGEROUS
SEVERE WEATHER EVENT.

80

Local storm report, Jan 21, 9:12 PM CST, 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
912 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999

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

0825 PM    CORSICANA                 TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
01/21/99   NAVARRO                        HAIL RPTD BY NAVARRO EMC.

0850 PM    KEMP                      TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
01/21/99   KAUFMAN                        KAUFMAN EMC RPTD HAIL.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 21, 7:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Hill, Limestone, Navarro	49 min
Jan 21, 7:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	McLennan	49 min
Jan 21, 8:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Henderson, Kaufman, Van Zandt	47 min
Jan 21, 9:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Freestone, Limestone	45 min
Jan 21, 10:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Leon	42 min
Jan 22, 12:52 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Milam	28 min
Jan 22, 1:03 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Robertson	37 min
Jan 22, 1:35 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Leon	35 min
Jan 22, 2:08 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FWD	Leon	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.