Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

December 23, 2002Harris County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Dec 23, 2002, 1:54 PM CST for Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 36 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: Dec 23, 2002, 1:54 PM CST (19:54 UTC)
Expired: Dec 23, 2002, 2:30 PM CST
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Harris County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:56 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Dec 23, 9:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 232 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: 51 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 489 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 193 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

915 
WFUS54 KHGX 231954
TORHOU
TXC201-232030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
154 PM CST MON DEC 23 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 230 PM CST

* AT 146 PM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO 3 MILES WEST OF JERSEY VILLAGE...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  JERSEY VILLAGE
  HOOKS AIRPORT
  SPRING
  NORTH HOUSTON
  I-45 NORTH
  US 290 WEST FREEWAY

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...LON 2985 9572 2979 9557 3004 9532 3009 9566

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 23, 6:10 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX		50 min
Dec 23, 6:58 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX		62 min
Dec 23, 9:41 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazos	49 min
Dec 23, 9:57 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Austin	33 min
Dec 23, 10:06 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Walker	39 min
Dec 23, 10:51 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Trinity	39 min
Dec 23, 11:16 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazos, Grimes	44 min
Dec 23, 11:58 AM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Grimes, Walker	47 min
Dec 23, 12:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Madison	47 min
Dec 23, 12:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Houston	39 min
Dec 23, 1:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Houston, Trinity	47 min
Dec 23, 1:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Montgomery	46 min
Dec 23, 1:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	San Jacinto	43 min
Dec 23, 2:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Montgomery	38 min
Dec 23, 2:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Grimes, Montgomery, Walker	47 min
Dec 23, 2:21 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	39 min
Dec 23, 2:21 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Polk	54 min
Dec 23, 2:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Montgomery	34 min
Dec 23, 2:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Trinity	26 min
Dec 23, 2:54 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Walker	36 min
Dec 23, 3:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	San Jacinto	45 min
Dec 23, 3:16 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Trinity	44 min
Dec 23, 4:20 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazos, Madison	40 min
Dec 23, 4:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Madison	50 min
Dec 23, 5:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX		54 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.