Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 41, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

April 3, 1999Montgomery County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 1999, 4:01 PM CST for Montgomery County, Texas. It was in force for 29 min. 2 reports 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
Apr 3, 1999, 4:01 PM CST (22:01 UTC)
Expired
Apr 3, 1999, 4:30 PM CST
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Montgomery County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 3, 4:17 PM CSTHail 0.75Willis, TX
Apr 3, 4:17 PM CSTTornado F0Willis, TXTornado near Willis. Trees down in area and mobile home damaged in Walnut Creek subdivision.

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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 3, 4:00 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 222 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 1999-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 918 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 1999-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 139 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
918 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-357 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
864 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
139 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
251 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Apr 3, 3:25 PM CST, 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 3, 3:25 PM CST, 36 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
325 PM CST SAT APR 3 1999

RATHER IMPRESSIVE LOOKING CONVECTION STARTING TO FIRE UP OVER PARTS
OF THE FA THIS AFTERNOON.  APPEARS THE EARLIER QUESTIONS RELATED TO
CAP STRENGTH SEEM MOOT.  WILL KEEP RAIN CHANCE ON THE HIGH SIDE FOR
TONIGHT ALONG WITH THE MENTION OF SEVERE.  LOOKING AHEAD...THE COM-
PLICATED FORECASTS CONTINUE WITH GENERAL CONSENSUS OF NON AGREEMENT
AMONG THE MODELS (ESPECIALLY FOR THE EXTENDED FCSTS).  COMPOSITE OF
AVN/NGM PROG TRENDS SEEM MOST REASONABLE FOR THE SHORT TERM AS THEY
KEEP CLOUDS/POPS IN THRU MONDAY.  SUBTROPICAL FLOW EXPECTED TO STAY
ACTIVE WITH EMBEDDED S/W MOVING ACROSS WHILE ANOTHER UPPER LOW DIGS
OFF THE ROCKIES.  DEEP ONSHORE FETCH TO REDEVELOP TOMORROW, BUT THE
BRUNT OF THIS NEXT SYSTEM SHOULD AFFECT SE TX MONDAY AT THE LATEST.
ATTM...INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE AIRMASS WILL HAVE RECOVERED ENOUGH
BY THEN FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME STRONG TSRA.  FOR TONIGHT THIS
LATEST SYSTEM TO EXIT BY MIDNITE WITH SOME PARTIAL CLEARING POSSI-
BLE...BUT THE PREVAILING CONDITIONS SHOULD BE MOSTLY CLOUDY ACROSS
THE BOARD.  NO REAL ARGUMENTS WITH GOING MOS TEMPS AS THEY SEEM TO
FOLLOW PERSISTENCE ANYWAY.  41/45/DEB

PRELIMS...
CLL ET 058/077 065/079 3345
IAH ET 063/078 068/080 6345
GLS ET 068/076 069/077 6445

.HGX...SCA FOR ALL UPPER TX COAST.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 3, 1:00 PM CST, 3 hours 1 minute before
TXZ163-040000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
100 PM CST SAT APR 3 1999

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM FOR HOUSTON COUNTY...

A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE DRYLINE PRODUCED AN OUTFLOW
BOUNDARY THAT HAS BEEN SPEEDING EASTWARD. THIS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY WILL
BE MOVING INTO A MOIST AND INCREASINGLY MORE UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE.
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP RAPIDLY...SPAWNING TORNADOES AND
DAMAGING MICROBURST WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS
WILL BE MOVING INTO WESTERN HOUSTON COUNTY AROUND 2 PM.

THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE ISOLATED TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WINDS...BRIEF
HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE.

THE WATCH AREA EXTENDS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM
FAIRFIELD TO NACOGDOCHES.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS SOURCES FOR THE LATEST
STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 3, 2:07 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXColorado38 min
Apr 3, 3:00 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXMontgomery, Walker30 min
Apr 3, 3:44 PM CSTTornado WarningHGXPolk, San Jacinto, Trinity61 min
Apr 3, 3:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXMontgomery64 min
Apr 3, 4:38 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk, San Jacinto67 min
Apr 3, 5:30 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningHGXPolk, San Jacinto3 hr
Apr 3, 5:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGXPolk, San Jacinto45 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.