Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 59, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

December 30, 2002Austin County, Colorado County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Dec 30, 2002, 7:03 PM CST for Austin County, Colorado County, Texas. It was in force for 27 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 30, 2002, 7:03 PM CST (01:03 UTC)
Expired: Dec 30, 2002, 7:30 PM CST
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Austin County, TX, Colorado County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:06 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 30, 3:20 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 249 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: 1155 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -212 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1024 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHGX 310103
TORHOU
TXC015-089-310130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
703 PM CST MON DEC 30 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  AUSTIN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
  COLORADO COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 730 PM CST

* AT 700 PM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF 
PRODUCING A TORNADO ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CAT SPRING...MOVING  
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  CAT SPRING
  BELLVILLE

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 2975 9661 2955 9638 2979 9614 3003 9623
          3002 9646

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 30, 6:28 PM CST	Special Marine Warning	HGX		2 hr
Dec 30, 6:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX		48 min
Dec 30, 8:28 PM CST	Special Marine Warning	HGX		2 hr
Dec 30, 8:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX		40 min
Dec 30, 9:21 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Galveston, Harris	39 min
Dec 30, 9:53 PM CST	Special Marine Warning	HGX		67 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.