Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

January 1, 1999Walker County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Jan 1, 1999, 1:46 PM CST for Walker County, Texas. It was in force for 64 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jan 1, 1999, 1:46 PM CST (19:46 UTC)
Expired: Jan 1, 1999, 2:50 PM CST
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Walker County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:48 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jan 1, 1:53 PM CST	Tornado F0	Huntsville, TX	Brief tornado touchdown with trees reported down.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 238 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: 660 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 265 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KHOU 011944 RRA
TORHOU
TXC471-012050-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
146 PM CST FRI JAN 1 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HOUSTON/GALVESTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WALKER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 250 PM CST

* AT 145 PM... RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS INDICATED A TORNADIC
  THUNDERSTORM JUST SOUTHWEST OF HUNTSVILLE... MOVING NORTHEAST AT
25 MPH.

* HUNTSVILLE IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.

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.
ABANDON 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 Jan 1, 9:40 AM CST, 4 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 1, 9:40 AM CST, 4 hours 6 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
940 AM CST FRI JAN 1 1999

VARIOUS EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS HAVE CROPPED UP...THEY MUST KNOW SEVERE
WEATHER IS APPROACHING. WE EXPECT ALL SYSTEMS TO BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL
NLT 18Z. ASSESSING THE CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL IS VERY TRICKY SINCE
MANY OF THE COMPONENTS WILL NOT COINCIDE UNTIL JUST WEST OF OR OVER
ERN TX. THIS LEAVES RELIANCE ON MODEL FORECASTS AND ROUGH ESTIMATION
OF COMPONENTS FROM SFC AND 12Z UPPER AIR ANALYSES. LOOK FOR MORE
DETAILS IN THE AFTERNOON DISCUSSION. THE CURRENT FORECAST PACKAGE IS
FINE...NO CHANGES.

.HGX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY AND TONIGHT.
       SCA TODAY THROUGH SAT.

31/47/44

CLL TW 064/050 052/028 048 991
IAH TW 070/062 063/030 050 992
GLS TW 067/066 066/041 050 992

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 1, 12:07 PM CST, 1 hour 39 minutes before

TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-020000-

SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1207 PM CST FRI JAN 1 1999

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR ALL OF
SOUTHEAST TEXAS...
...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL COMBINE
WITH THE FRONT TO PRODUCE SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO
BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. A FEW TORNADOES ARE
ALSO POSSIBLE. A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO
FORM OVER SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND
MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS. LOCATIONS EAST OF A LINE FROM
HUNTSVILLE TO SEALY TO BAY CITY WILL HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF SEEING
SEVERE WEATHER. HOWEVER...ANY PORTION OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS HAS THE
POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT...HEAVY RAINS ARE ALSO
POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN
EFFECT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE AND THIS
WILL INCREASE THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING AS WELL AS URBAN FLOODING.
PEOPLE ALONG CREEKS...STREAMS AND RIVERS SHOULD MONITOR WATER LEVELS
AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION SHOULD RIVER LEVELS BEGIN TO RISE.

SPOTTER GROUPS AS WELL AS EMERGENCY MANAGERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PREPARE
FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE WEATHER AND FLASH FLOODING.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO...TV...OR YOUR LOCAL NEWS SOURCE FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND
POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER WATCHES AND WARNINGS. WEATHER
INFORMATION IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT
WWW.NWS.NOAA.GOV/HGX.

TAYLOR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 1, 1:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Trinity	49 min
Jan 1, 1:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Trinity	49 min
Jan 1, 2:02 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	San Jacinto	48 min
Jan 1, 2:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Polk, Trinity	47 min
Jan 1, 2:57 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Polk, Trinity	48 min
Jan 1, 4:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Polk, Trinity	62 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.