Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Mar 18, 2003, 11:22 AM CST for Harris County, Montgomery 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
- Mar 18, 2003, 11:22 AM CST (17:22 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 18, 2003, 12:00 PM CST
- In force
- 38 min
- Issued by
- NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
Counties Harris County, TX, Montgomery County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:26 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 tornado 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
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 5.4 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 787 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 129 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 147 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS54 KHGX 181722 TORHOU TXC201-339-181800- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1120 AM CST TUE MAR 18 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MONTGOMERY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS NORTHERN HARRIS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS * UNTIL NOON CST * AT 1116 AM CST...THE PUBLIC AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED MULTIPLE FUNNEL CLOUDS BETWEEN TOMBALL AND THE WOODLANDS. DOPPLER RADAR IS ALSO INDICATING SOME MID-LEVEL ROTATION. CONDITIONS ARE BECOMING MORE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADIC THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. THE STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. * LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE... TOMBALL...HOOKS AIRPORT...STAGECOACH THE WOODLANDS SHENANDOAH...OAK RIDGE NORTH WOODLOCH 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 3011 9577 2998 9563 3023 9533 3034 9554 $$
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 Mar 18, 11:16 AM CST, 6 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 18, 11:16 AM CST, 6 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1116 AM CST TUE MAR 18 2003 UPDATED THE ZONES TO RAISE HOUSTON AREA POPS TO 50%. ALSO...GOT A REPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD ALONG THE EAST END OF THE LINE OF STORMS BETWEEN LAKE CONROE AND WILLIS (ABOUT 1105 AM). EXTREME EASTERN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS ARE NOW IN SPCS DAY ONE MODERATE RISK...AND THE THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES APPEARS TO BE ON THE INCREASE. TORNADO WATCH MAY BE COMING SOON FOR THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA. .HGX...NONE. 42/35/31/46/43/38 UPDATED PRELIMS... CLL EB 060/049 075/050 075 632 IAH EB 077/051 075/052 076 522 GLS BB 075/060 072/061 073 31- ------------------------------------------------------------------- .PREVIOUS UPDATE (1008 AM)... HAVE RECEIVED A COUPLE REPORTS OF PEA TO 1/2 INCH SIZE HAIL IN MADISON COUNTY WITHIN THE PAST 30 TO 45 MINUTES. VIL OF THE DAY IS PROBABLY SOMEWHERE AROUND 50. BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS LOOKS TO BE ACROSS OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES WHERE INSTABILITY IS GREATEST. SIGNIFICANTLY DRIER AIRMASS IS PRESENT ACROSS THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF OUR COUNTY WARNING AREA... INCLUDING THE COAST BETWEEN GALVESTON ISLAND AND MATAGORDA BAY. MORNING VISIBLE SATELLITE PICTURES SHOW AN EVEN DRIER AIRMASS IN THE WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO EDGING NORTHWARD TOWARD THE TEXAS COAST. WITH MORE ENERGY ROUNDING THE BASE OF THE STRONG UPPER LOW TO OUR NORTHWEST...CANNOT TOTALLY RULE OUT THE LINE OF STORMS GETTING BETTER ORGANIZED AS IT RAPIDLY MAKES ITS WAY ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS TOWARD LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES HAVE COOLED SIGNIFICANTLY BEHIND THE DRY LINE/COLD FRONT (CLL IS DOWN TO 56 DEGREES). WILL NEED TO DO SOME DOWNWARD TEMPERATURE ADJUSTMENTS ACROSS OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES...AS DAYTIME HIGHS HAVE ALREADY BEEN REACHED. HOUSTON AREA MAY BE ABLE TO REACH THE UPPER 70S BEFORE THE BOUNDARY MOVES THROUGH. HAVE A FEELING WELL NEED TO DO SOME ZONE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY DUE TO FAST MOVING PATTERN.
Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 18, 6:55 AM CST, 4 hours 27 minutes before
TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-182200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 655 AM CST TUE MAR 18 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS. ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE TODAY AND TONIGHT ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS... .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE DRYLINE IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS THE REGION LATER TODAY. THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO FEATURES WILL LIKELY PRODUCE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA. FAVORABLE WIND SHEAR AND COLD AIR AT THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE INDICATE THAT THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS AS DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BEGIN DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON AND END DURING THE EVENING HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE FROM THE WESTERN U.S. INTO THE CENTRAL U.S. THIS WEEKEND. AT THIS TIME...SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED WITH THIS SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED...BEGINNING LATER TODAY.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 18, 10:20 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Houston | 55 min |
| Mar 18, 11:16 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Montgomery, San Jacinto | 44 min |
| Mar 18, 11:56 AM CST | Special Marine Warning | HGX | 64 min | |
| Mar 18, 11:58 AM CST | Special Marine Warning | HGX | 62 min | |
| Mar 18, 12:26 PM CST | Special Marine Warning | HGX | 94 min | |
| Mar 18, 12:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX | Chambers, Harris | 43 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2003Every tornado warning in 2003Tornadoes 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.