Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Brownsville, TX

October 20, 2002Cameron County, Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 20, 2002, 6:38 PM CDT for Cameron County, Texas. It was in force for 37 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 20, 2002, 6:38 PM CDT (23:38 UTC)
Expired: Oct 20, 2002, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Brownsville, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cameron County, TX

The radar

The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:42 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

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 42 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: 1974 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 724 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

643 
WFUS54 KBRO 202338
TORBRO
TXC061-210015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
638 PM CDT SUN OCT 20 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 715 PM CDT

* AT 630 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR RIO HONDO...OR
  NEAR HARLINGEN...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED BE NEAR...
   SAN BENITO BY 650 PM CDT.

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.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 2632 9755 2625 9774 2608 9768 2618 9747

PHILO

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 19, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Brooks, Kenedy	68 min
Oct 19, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Brooks	21 hr
Oct 20, 4:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron, Hidalgo	103 min
Oct 20, 4:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Kenedy	31 min
Oct 20, 4:32 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	BRO		58 min
Oct 20, 4:32 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	BRO		58 min
Oct 20, 5:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Kenedy, Willacy	28 min
Oct 20, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy	84 min
Oct 20, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy	81 min
Oct 20, 5:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BRO	Hidalgo	31 min
Oct 20, 5:41 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	BRO		2 hr
Oct 20, 5:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron, Willacy	69 min
Oct 20, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron, Hidalgo, Kenedy, Willacy	88 min
Oct 20, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BRO	Cameron	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.