Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 60, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

December 30, 2002Galveston County, Harris County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Dec 30, 2002, 9:21 PM CST for Galveston County, Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 39 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Dec 30, 2002, 9:21 PM CST (03:21 UTC)
Expired: Dec 30, 2002, 10:00 PM CST
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Whole counties

Counties Galveston County, TX, Harris County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 12 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:25 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Dec 30, 9:25 PM CST	Tornado F0	Shoreacres, TX	Tornado briefly touched down before moving to the northeast into Galveston Bay as a waterspout. Several boats at the Houston Yacht Club were overturned and a large section of a metal roof was destroyed.
Dec 30, 9:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 65 EG	Galveston, TX	140 feet of roof ripped off the Shops at the Balinese on the Galveston seawall.
Dec 30, 10:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 56 M	Galveston, TX	64 mph wind gust at Pleasure Pier.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

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, 8:55 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 631 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 233 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

193 
WFUS54 KHGX 310321
TORHOU
TXC167-201-310400-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1000 PM CST

* AT 910 PM CST...A WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR THE 
INTERSTECTION OF F.M. 2094 AND CLEAR LAKE ROAD.  ADDITIONALLY... 
RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO OVER 
WESTERN GALVESTON ISLAND.  BOTH STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE GALVESTON 
  AND CHANNELVIEW.

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.

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 Dec 30, 9:05 PM CST, 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 30, 9:05 PM CST, 16 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
905 PM CST MON DEC 30 2002

SQUALL LINE LOCATED FROM LIVINGSTON TO HOUSTON TO FREEPORT AT 03Z.
SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL CONTINUE EAST OF THIS LINE FOR ABOUT
ANOTHER 2 HOURS UNTIL TSRA PUSH EAST OF AREA. SO FAR...MOSTLY
REPORTS OF 40-50 MPH WINDS AND PEA SIZED HAIL WITH SQUALL LINE. PSX
RECORDED 60 MPH WIND GUST BUT THIS OCCURRED AS COLD FRONT PASSED THE
SITE.  COORD WITH SPC TO NOT REISSUE EXPIRED TOA FOR AREA. WILL
COVER REMAINING SEVERE THREAT WITH ANY WARNINGS THAT ARE NEEDED.

18Z ETA/AVN NOW FASTER WITH SPEED OF UPPER LOW WHICH SEEMS TO BE
VERIFYING BASED ON WV IMAGERY. UPPER LOW WILL CROSS CWA LATE TNGT
AND BE EAST OF AREA BY 18Z TUESDAY. WILL KEEP SCATTERED TSRA IN FCST
FOR REST OF TNGT AS ARRIVAL OF VERY COLD MID LEVEL TEMPS WILL
SUPPORT CONTINUED CONVECTIVE THREAT. NO CHANGES TO FIRST PERIOD
TEMPS BUT WILL CLEAN UP WIND WORDING. WILL UPDATE ZONES NOW TO DROP
WATCH AND LOWER POPS WRN HALF. WILL LIKELY DO ANOTHER UPDATE BY 06Z
ONCE SQUALL LINE EXITS AREA.

35/43/38

.HGX...SCA BAYS AND 0-60 NM WATERS.

UPDATE...
CLL TE 048/059 038/065 040 440
IAH TE 052/060 039/065 042 840
GLS TE 053/060 046/063 049 840

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...
THE INITIAL S/W PUSHED THROUGH THE CWA THIS MORNING WITH LITTLE ADO.
ONLY A FEW SHRA LINGERING ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON...BUT THE
ACTIVITY LEVEL HERE NOT QUITE AS HIGH AS OUR NEIGHBORING NWSO OFFICE
TO THE NORTH. TO OUR WEST...THUNDERSTORMS ARE STARTING TO LINE UP IN
ANTICIPATION FOR THIS EVENING. HOWEVER...LATEST MODELS ARE ADDING AN
INTERESTING TWIST: THE TIMING OF EVENTS HAVE SLOWED ONCE AGAIN. IN A
REMARKABLY SIMILAR FASHION AMONG THE VARIOUS PROGS...THE COLD FRONT/
UPPER TROUGH-LOW ARE NOW BEING PUSHED ACROSS THE AREA BETWEEN 6-12Z.
AS THIS TYPE OF MODEL AGREEMENT IS HARD TO IGNORE...WILL LIKELY BUMP
UP THE TIMING OF THINGS A FEW HOURS AS A COMPROMISE. THIS SLOWING OF
EVENTS MAKES THE SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS/SLOWER CLOUD CLEARING FOR TOM-
ORROW THAT MUCH MORE POSSIBLE. GIVEN THAT MOST OF THIS IS ALREADY IN
THE ZONES...NOT MUCH CHANGE PLANNED FOR THAT PRODUCT. WE WILL LIKELY
SEE A FLAREUP OF THE LINE OF STORMS WELL TO OUR WEST AS THE NEXT S/W
ROUNDS THE BASE OF THE SEEMINGLY STILL DIGGING UPPER LOW AT/NEAR THE
BIG BEND. ALSO OF CONCERN FOR TOMORROW...LINGERING MOISTURE/POSSIBI-
LITY OF S/WS WRAPPING AROUND THE UPPER LOW COULD BRING SOME ELEVATED
POST FRONTAL STORMS. SHOULD THIS PAN OUT...THE LOWER FREEZING LEVELS
COULD HELP PRODUCE SOME HAIL. AT THIS TIME WILL LEAVE THE MENTION OF
SEVERE FOR TONIGHT ONLY. THE NEXT RUNS MAY SHED MORE LIGHT ON THIS.

DESPITE THE CHANGES IN THE SHORT TERM...THE EXTENDED PROGS ARE STILL
ON TRACK. THIS NEXT FRONT IS STILL SLATED FOR A LATE WED/EARLY THURS
PASSAGE AND A RELATIVELY DRY/QUIET WX PERIOD IS ON TAP THE REMAINDER
OF THE WEEK AND ON INTO THE WEEKEND GIVEN THE BUILDING UPPER RIDGE.

41/47

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 30, 4:55 PM CST, 4 hours 26 minutes before

GMZ300-330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-
227-235>238-311300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
455 PM CST MON DEC 30 2002

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS EVENING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND THE UPPER
TEXAS COASTAL WATERS.

.DAY ONE...
.TONIGHT...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM AND A COLD FRONT WILL
APPROACH SOUTHEAST TEXAS TONIGHT. A SQUALL LINE...CURRENTLY ALONG THE
FRONT OVER CENTRAL TEXAS...WILL PUSH FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS
THE AREA THIS EVENING. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. HOWEVER...A FEW STORMS COULD
PRODUCE TORNADOES. THE SQUALL LINE WILL ENTER THE WESTERN COUNTIES OF
SOUTHEAST TEXAS AROUND 6 PM...AND SWEEP OFF THE COAST BY MIDNIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
.TUESDAY...THE UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHEAST
TEXAS DURING THE DAY. THE COMBINATION OF LINGERING MOISTURE AND
COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL FAVOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. DUE TO VERY COLD MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES
ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORM SYSTEM...SOME OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE
LARGE HAIL.

.WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING.

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, 7:03 PM CST	Tornado Warning	HGX	Austin, Colorado	27 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, 9:53 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.