Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 5, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 20, 2003, 9:23 AM CST for Gonzales County, Texas. It was in force for 52 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
- Feb 20, 2003, 9:23 AM CST (15:23 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 20, 2003, 10:15 AM CST
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Gonzales County, TX
The radar
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:25 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.
Did it verify
Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.
Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 194 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 353 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -36 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 638 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 123 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 98 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 2.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WUUS54 KEWX 201523 SVRSAT TXC177-201615- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 922 AM CST THU FEB 20 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN TEXAS... GONZALES * UNTIL 1015 AM CST * AT 922 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR NIXON...OR ABOUT 7 MILES WEST OF SMILEY...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE... 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF GONZALES AT 955 AM 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF WAELDER AT 1015 AM * THIS WARNING INCLUDES LOCATIONS IN AND AROUND... SMILEY GONZALES WAELDER IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...GO INSIDE A STURDY SHELTER AWAY FROM CREEK BEDS AND OTHER FLOOD-PRONE AREAS. REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. HEAVY RAINS MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS LOW WATER CROSSINGS... DITCHES AND UNDERPASSES. AVOID THESE AREAS AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS THEY MAY BE WASHED OUT. WATER LEVELS OF SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS MAY ALSO RISE. SEEK HIGHER GROUND IF THREATENED BY FLOOD WATERS. LAT...LON 2933 9781 2922 9769 2966 9719 2978 9733 $$
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Feb 20, 5:30 AM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 20, 5:30 AM CST, 3 hours 53 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 530 AM CST THU FEB 20 2003 A FRONTAL FLASH FLOOD EVENT IS LIKELY TODAY EVOLVING INTO A FRONTAL/SYNOPTIC SCALE FLASH FLOOD EVENT TONIGHT INTO EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. OVERRUNNING GULF MOISTURE (RICH AND CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE) WILL LIFT OVER SHALLOW COOL DOME ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY. IMPULSES WILL EJECT FROM THE UPPER LOW TO THE WEST WHICH BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIFFLUENT ALOFT. THE RESULT WILL BE INCREASING CHANCES THROUGHOUT THE DAY OF SHOWERS AND HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS. BY EVENING...SATURATED GROUND CONDITIONS MAY EXIST...PARTICULARLY OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE REGION. TONIGHT..THE UPPER LOW WILL MAKE ITS ENTRANCE WITH ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...INCREASING DIFFLUENCE AND COLDER AIR ALOFT WILL RESULT IN THE ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITY OF LARGE HAIL...THIS MAY ALSO OCCUR AS EARLY AS THIS AFTERNOON SO INCLUDED SEVERE POSSIBILITY FOR TODAY AS WELL. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD END FROM THE WEST BY LATE FRIDAY MORNING...THEN CLEARING FROM THE WEST FRIDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. A NICE WEEKEND IN STORE AS NORTHWEST TO WEST FLOW ALOFT DOMINATES. CLOUDS WILL RETURN EARLY NEXT WEEK AS RETURN FLOW BRINGS GULF MOISTURE. A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA BY MIDWEEK. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... AUS 057/055 062/046 066 8+92 DRT 060/058 065/048 074 8+90 SAT 059/056 069/052 068 8+90= .EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. 02/06 02/06
Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 20, 6:00 AM CST, 3 hours 23 minutes before
TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-211200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 600 AM CST THU FEB 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY...EXCESSIVE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE EXPECTED OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY. AS A WINTER STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES SOUTH TEXAS TONIGHT, AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE AND FLASH FLOODING BECOMES LIKELY. ALSO THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... AN ADDITIONAL ONE INCH OF RAIN FRIDAY IS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE WINTER STORM EXITS SOUTH TEXAS. FLASH FLOODING AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN UNTIL AROUND NOON FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 6:44 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Bexar, Wilson | 46 min |
| Feb 20, 7:29 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kendall | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 7:34 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Travis, Williamson | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 9:14 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Bastrop, Caldwell, Lee | 4 hr |
| Feb 20, 11:15 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | EWX | Lavaca | 45 min |
| Feb 20, 1:25 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Bastrop, Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays and 3 more | 4 hr |
| Feb 20, 4:33 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Fayette, Gonzales | 57 min |
| Feb 20, 5:20 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Travis and 1 more | 3 hr |
| Feb 20, 5:25 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | EWX | Bastrop, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, Lee | 3 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 2003Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003
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.