Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 20, 2002Galveston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 20, 2002, 5:37 AM CDT for Galveston County, Texas. It was in force for 38 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, 5:37 AM CDT (10:37 UTC)
Expired: Oct 20, 2002, 6:15 AM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Galveston County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 29 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:36 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, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 915 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

819 
WFUS54 KHGX 201037
TORHOU
TXC167-201115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
537 AM CDT SUN OCT 20 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 615 AM CDT

* AT 535 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE     
  OF PRODUCING A TORNADO ON OR NEAR THE NORTHWEST TIP OF THE WEST    
  OF THE BOLIVAR PENINSULA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. 

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
THE FERRY LANDING ON THE BOLIVAR PENINSULA...THE WEST END OF THE 
BOLIVAR PENINSULA

MOVE TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON YOUR CAR
OR MOBILE HOME FOR A STRONG SHELTER NOW

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 2938 9485 2935 9479 2948 9465 2951 9479

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 19, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Wharton	3 hr
Oct 19, 10:12 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		93 min
Oct 19, 10:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Austin	9 days
Oct 19, 10:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Chambers, Colorado and 16 more	72 days
Oct 20, 12:19 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		86 min
Oct 20, 4:51 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		39 min
Oct 20, 5:30 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		45 min
Oct 20, 7:17 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		88 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.