Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

August 30, 2001Chambers County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Aug 30, 2001, 9:35 PM CDT for Chambers County, Texas. It was in force for 40 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
Aug 30, 2001, 9:35 PM CDT (02:35 UTC)
Expired
Aug 30, 2001, 10:15 PM CDT
In force
40 min
Issued by
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Chambers County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:36 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 00:00Z on 2001-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 492 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 00:00Z on 2001-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 85 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
492 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
867 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
247 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

726 
WFUS54 KHGX 310235
TORHOU
TXC071-310315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
935 PM CDT THU AUG 30 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CHAMBERS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 1015 PM CDT

* AT 935 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE 
  OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 10 MILES NORTHWEST OR GILCHRIST...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  RURAL CHAMBERS COUNTY EAST OF OAK ISLAND AND ANAHUAC

THIS WARNING EXTENDS THE PREVIOUSLY ISSUED WARNING FOR CHAMBERS 
COUNTY.

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO - TAKE COVER NOW

PLEASE REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE COUNTY SHERIFF...LOCAL POLICE...
OR DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 2960 9474 2952 9457 2975 9438 2984 9457

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 Aug 30, 8:52 PM CDT, 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 30, 8:52 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
852 PM CDT THU AUG 30 2001

FORECAST PROBLEM OF THE NIGHT CONTINUES TO BE EXTENT AND AMOUNT OF
RAINFALL.  00Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWED A SURFACE TROUGH ALONG AND
JUST OFFSHORE OF THE UPPER TEXAS COAST.  00Z SOUNDINGS SHOW PW/S 2.1
TO 2.5 INCHES...850 MB DEWPOINTS OF 16 TO 18 CELSIUS...AND 700 MB
DEWPOINTS OF 4 TO 7 CELSIUS.  WATER VAPOR INDICATED A SHORTWAVE
TROUGH MOVING IN FROM THE WEST WHILE THE UPPER CHARTS AT 00Z SHOWED
GOOD DIFFLUENCE OVER THE AREA.  IR AND RADAR SHOWED THAT
REDEVELOPMENT WAS OCCURRING RIGHT OVER SE TX.  THE 00Z SOUNDINGS ALSO
INDICATE A SEVERE WEATHER THREAT.  WILL MENTION A CHANCE OF SEVERE
STORMS IN THE COASTAL COUNTIES WHERE THE GREATEST THREAT APPEARS TO
BE.

THE RAINFALL SHOULD CONTINUE AND WILL KEEP THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN
EFFECT FOR TONIGHT AND EXTEND IT INTO FRIDAY.  THE THINKING HERE IS
THAT THE GREATEST THREAT WILL BE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN THIRD.

PL-40
31

.HGX...FFA ALL CWA TONIGHT AND FRIDAY.
       SCEC 00 TO 20 NM HIGH ISLAND TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 30, 7:05 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXLiberty25 min
Aug 30, 7:32 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXChambers, Galveston43 min
Aug 30, 7:49 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXBrazoria, Galveston41 min
Aug 30, 8:20 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris6 hr
Aug 30, 8:25 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXChambers35 min
Aug 30, 8:45 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXBrazoria45 min
Aug 30, 9:07 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXChambers38 min
Aug 30, 10:55 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXJackson, Wharton6 hr
Aug 31, 1:05 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris6 hr
Aug 31, 3:45 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXJackson, Wharton6 hr
Aug 31, 8:30 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXColorado, Jackson, Matagorda, Wharton3 hr
Aug 31, 9:55 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend3 hr
Aug 31, 11:27 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXJackson, Matagorda, Wharton3 hr
Aug 31, 1:00 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend3 hr
Aug 31, 1:52 PM CDTTornado WarningHGXChambers23 min
Aug 31, 2:28 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXJackson, Wharton92 min
Aug 31, 3:55 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend, Jackson, Wharton2 hr
Aug 31, 5:58 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningHGXBrazoria, Fort Bend, Jackson, Wharton3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.