Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Fort Worth, TX

May 4, 1999Wise County, Texas

NWS Fort Worth, TX issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1999, 12:11 AM CDT for Wise County, Texas. It was in force for 34 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
May 4, 1999, 12:11 AM CDT (05:11 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1999, 12:45 AM CDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Fort Worth, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Wise County, TX

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:14 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 3, 10:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), launched 00:00Z, 5.2 hours before the alert went out and 45 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2685 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 1999-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 143 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
2685 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1189 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
204 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
14.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KFTW 040513 RRA
TORFTW
TXC497-040545-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1211 AM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WISE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS

* UNTIL 1245 AM CDT

* AT 1211 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  RHOME...MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE DECATUR AND BOYD

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 3300 9769 3300 9739 3343 9739 3344 9761

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 3, 11:17 PM CDT, 54 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
1117 PM CDT MON MAY 03 1999

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

1133 PM    BRIDGEPORT                TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/03/99   WISE

1145 PM    RIVER OAKS                TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/03/99   TARRANT

1203 AM    RHOME                     TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/04/99   WISE

1203 AM    BOYD                      TX   1 INCH HAIL
05/04/99   WISE

1210 AM    RENO                      TX   TORNADO
05/04/99   PARKER                         MOBILE HOME DESTROYED ON
                                          OVERLAND TRAIL ROAD

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 11:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDParker51 min
May 3, 11:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDTarrant45 min
May 3, 11:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDWise52 min
May 4, 12:45 AM CDTTornado WarningFWDDenton, Wise30 min
May 4, 4:54 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCooke36 min
May 4, 11:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDMontague45 min
May 4, 12:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDWise44 min
May 4, 12:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHood, Parker47 min
May 4, 12:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCooke42 min
May 4, 12:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDTarrant47 min
May 4, 12:41 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDHood, Parker34 min
May 4, 12:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDenton43 min
May 4, 12:51 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDTarrant39 min
May 4, 1:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCollin, Grayson45 min
May 4, 1:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDCooke45 min
May 4, 1:06 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDCollin24 min
May 4, 1:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHopkins44 min
May 4, 1:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDenton51 min
May 4, 1:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDTarrant46 min
May 4, 1:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin40 min
May 4, 1:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDVan Zandt23 min
May 4, 2:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLamar53 min
May 4, 2:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDallas51 min
May 4, 2:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDFannin28 min
May 4, 2:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDDallas50 min
May 4, 3:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDLamar41 min
May 4, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDKaufman, Van Zandt36 min
May 4, 3:25 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDLamar35 min
May 4, 3:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDHopkins, Hunt, Rains37 min
May 4, 3:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDKaufman, Van Zandt61 min
May 4, 4:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDRains54 min
May 4, 4:36 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDRains, Van Zandt24 min
May 4, 4:46 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDKaufman29 min
May 4, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDEllis, Henderson, Navarro50 min
May 4, 4:55 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDEllis, Henderson, Navarro50 min
May 4, 5:25 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDKaufman50 min
May 4, 6:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWDAnderson, Freestone56 min
May 4, 6:40 PM CDTTornado WarningFWDAnderson35 min

Nearby

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