Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Brownsville, TX

May 31, 2001Cameron County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this tornado warning at May 31, 2001, 3:44 PM CDT for Cameron County, Texas. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report came from 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, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 2001, 3:44 PM CDT (20:44 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2001, 4:15 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Cameron County, TX

The radar

The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:47 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
May 31, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Rancho Viejo, TX	An airplane pilot and an emergency technician both sighted a tornado between San Benito and Rancho Viejo.

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

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 33 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: 2642 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 531 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

392 
WFUS54 KBRO 312047
TORBRO
TXC061-312115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
344 PM CDT THU MAY 31 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL CAMERON COUNTY IN DEEP SOUTH TEXAS

* UNTIL 415 PM CDT

* AT 344 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 2 MILES NORTH OF RANCHO VIEJO.  THE        
  THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING SOUTH SOUTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED BE NEAR...
   RANCHO VIEJO BY 450 PM CDT.
   OLMITO BY 455 PM.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IN IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY
OR CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY.

LAT...LON 2607 9777 2594 9747 2622 9735 2623 9765
          2615 9775

YURA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 3:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Cameron	37 min
May 31, 4:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Cameron	28 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.