Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

May 25, 2001Matagorda County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at May 25, 2001, 11:02 AM CDT for Matagorda County, Texas. It was in force for 28 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 25, 2001, 11:02 AM CDT (16:02 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 2001, 11:30 AM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

County Matagorda County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:02 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 176 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: 1944 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.2
Supercell composite: -2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHGX 251606
TORHOU
TXC321-251630-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1102 AM CDT FRI MAY 25 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1130 AM CDT

* AT 1054 AM CDT...ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS REPORTED A LARGE 
WATERSPOUT THAT MOVED ONSHORE THE INTERCOASTAL CHANNEL NEAR THE 
MATAGORDA LOCKS...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. THIS TORNADO HAS 
LIFTED TREES AND IS HEADING TOWARD A RESIDENTIAL AREA ON FM 2031.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  COLORADO RIVER AREA AND HOUSES NEAR FM 2031 AREA 

MOVE TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON YOUR CAR
OR MOBILE HOME FOR A STRONG SHELTER 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..6.LON 2866 9613 2853 9599 2866 9587 2879 9599

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 May 25, 10:20 AM CDT, 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 25, 10:20 AM CDT, 42 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1020 AM CDT FRI MAY 25 2001

PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY OVER SERN TX AT MID MORNING. THE UPDATE
ISSUES ARE POPS...ISOLATED SEVERE THREAT...AND TEMPS. SFC ANALYSES
SHOW THE FRONT NEAR OUR SRN CWA BOUNDARY. VIS IMAGERY SHOWS
CONVECTION FIRING BEHIND THE FRONT BACK IN WCNTRL TX. OVERALL...THE
CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS IN GOOD SHAPE WITH LOWISH SCT POPS. AGREE
WITH SWODY1 THAT SEVERE THREAT IS LIMITED TO THE FAR SWRN ZONES.
EVEN THEN... CONSIDERABLE CLOUDINESS AND COOL/DRY ADVECTION LEAD TO
AN ISOLATED RISK AT BEST.

WILL UPDATE ZONES TO SLIGHTLY DROP TEMPS PER NEW COOLER FWC/LAMP
GUIDANCE AND CLOUDCOVER...MAKE MINOR MODIFICATIONS TO WINDS PER
CURRENT TRENDS...AND TO RECATEGORIZE POPS AS CHANCE OF OCCURRING
RATHER THAN AREAL CHANCE SINCE THERE IS NO ONGOING ACTIVITY.

.HGX...NONE.

31/47/WT

UPDATE PRELIMS...
CLL EB 083/066 086/068 087 222   LOWER MAX TODAY
IAH EB 084/068 088/069 088 222   DITTO
GLS EB 082/074 084/074 084 222   DITTO

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 2:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Waller	52 min
May 25, 4:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Matagorda, Wharton	50 min
May 25, 5:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Fort Bend	50 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.