Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 9, 2003Chambers County, Liberty County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 9, 2003, 1:21 PM CDT for Chambers County, Liberty County, Texas. It was in force for 39 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: Oct 9, 2003, 1:21 PM CDT (18:21 UTC)
Expired: Oct 9, 2003, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Chambers County, TX, Liberty County, TX

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, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 49 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -61 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 805 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHGX 091821
TORHOU
TXC071-291-091900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
121 PM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LIBERTY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
  CHAMBERS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 200 PM CDT

* AT 112 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO OVER MONT BELVIEU...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  MONT BELVIEU...COVE
  AMES

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 2987 9498 2978 9481 2997 9460 3008 9474

$$

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 Oct 9, 10:00 AM CDT, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 10:00 AM CDT, 3 hours 21 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1000 AM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST. GETTING MEDIA REPORTS OF A
BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT HWY 59/HWY 90 AREA. STILL PRELIMINARY
DATA COMING IN INDICATING SOME DAMAGE TO FT BEND BAPTIST ACADEMY...
MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO A HOUSE ROOF AND A CHILD CARE FACILITY. THERE
IS A BIT OF LLVL SHEAR PER VWP & AREA SOUNDINGS. RADAR NOT SHOWING
ANYTHING OVERLY IMPRESSIVE AS FAR AS ROTATION GOES...WERE
THINKING ONE OF THE TROPICAL FUNNELS WE TYPICALLY SEE DURING THE
SUMMER...MAINLY IN THE MORNING HOURS...BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN. WILL GO
AHEAD AND MENTION SEVERE ACROSS SRN PARTS OF THE CWA AND UPDATE THE
HWO.

POPS LOOK FINE. SAT PIX SHOWING BREAKS OF SUN ACROSS WRN PARTS OF
THE AREA. ONCE TEMPS CLIMB INTO THE LOWER 80S ADDITIONAL SHRA/TSTMS
SHOULD DEVELOP AS PWS BETWEEN 2-2.3 PREVAIL. UPDATE OUT SHORTLY.

THANKS TO LOCAL MEDIA FOR RELAYING VIEWER CALLS AND REPORTS...KEEP
THEM COMING IF WARRANTED

47/45

.HGX...NONE.

CLL TE 079/068 080/064 083 +5-
IAH TE 082/070 082/064 083 85-
GLS TE 083/073 080/072 081 85-

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 9, 10:30 AM CDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before

GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-
235>238-101200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1030 AM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

...SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER TODAY...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.
WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY
AS ABUNDANT TROPICAL MOISTURE INTERACTS WITH UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCES MOVE OVERHEAD. THOUGH THERE COULD BE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY
DOWNPOURS AND MINOR STREET AND FEEDER ROAD FLOODING...STORMS SHOULD
BE MOVING FAST ENOUGH TO NOT PRODUCE ANY WIDESPREAD FLOODING.

IN ADDITION...THE ATMOSPHERE IS SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE FOR FUNNEL CLOUD
DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. THOUGH THE MAJORITY OF TIME
THESE FUNNELS DO NOT MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO THE GROUND...RESIDENTS
SHOULD KEEP AN EYE TO THE SKY AND BE PREPARED TO SEEK SHELTER SHOULD
ONE APPEAR TO DESCEND SINCE THEY ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGE.

RAINFALL SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS AND TAPER OFF
OVERNIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 9, 7:30 AM CDT, 5 hours 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
730 AM CDT THU OCT 09 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0300 AM    LA PORTE                  TX   TORNADO
10/09/03   HARRIS                         A WATERSPOUT ASSOCIATED
                                          WITH A RAIN SHOWER MOVED
                                          ONSHORE FROM GALVESTON BAY.
                                          DAMAGE TO TREES AND A
                                          STOREFRONT WINDOW WAS
                                          REPORTED NEAR THE
                                          INTERSECTION OF FAIRMONT
                                          AND BROADWAY.

PL

Local storm report, Oct 9, 7:32 AM CDT, 5 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT ... CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
732 AM CDT THU OCT 09 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0300 AM    LA PORTE                  TX   F0 TORNADO
10/09/03   HARRIS                         A WATERSPOUT ASSOCIATED
                                          WITH A RAIN SHOWER MOVED
                                          ONSHORE FROM GALVESTON BAY.
                                          DAMAGE TO TREES AND A
                                          STOREFRONT WINDOW WAS
                                          REPORTED NEAR THE
                                          INTERSECTION OF FAIRMONT
                                          AND BROADWAY.

PL

Local storm report, Oct 9, 10:41 AM CDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1041 AM CDT THU OCT 09 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1020 AM    SUGAR LAND                TX   F0 TORNADO
10/09/03   FORT BEND                      TOUCHDOWN NEAR INERSECTION
                                          OF HWY 59 AND HWY 90.
                                          PRELIMINARY DATA COMING IN
                                          INDICATING SOME DAMAGE TO
                                          FT BEND BAPTIST
                                          ACADEMY...MINOR ROOF DAMAGE
                                          TO A HOUSE...WINDOWS BROKEN
                                          AT A DAY CARE FACILITY.

47

Local storm report, Oct 9, 10:41 AM CDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...COR TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1041 AM CDT THU OCT 09 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

920 AM     SUGAR LAND                TX   F0 TORNADO
10/09/03   FORT BEND                      TOUCHDOWN NEAR INERSECTION
                                          OF HWY 59 AND HWY 90.
                                          PRELIMINARY DATA COMING IN
                                          INDICATING SOME DAMAGE TO
                                          FT BEND BAPTIST
                                          ACADEMY...MINOR ROOF DAMAGE
                                          TO A HOUSE...WINDOWS BROKEN
                                          AT A DAY CARE FACILITY.

47

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 9, 11:46 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Galveston, Harris	44 min
Oct 9, 4:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Galveston, Harris	33 min
Oct 9, 5:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Fort Bend	39 min
Oct 9, 5:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Wharton	36 min
Oct 9, 5:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Harris	49 min
Oct 9, 5:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria	46 min
Oct 9, 6:25 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		2 hr
Oct 9, 6:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria, Galveston	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.