Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 37, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 9, 2003Wharton County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 9, 2003, 5:24 PM CDT for Wharton County, Texas. It was in force for 36 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, 5:24 PM CDT (22:24 UTC)
Expired: Oct 9, 2003, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wharton 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 218 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: 1690 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 554 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KHGX 092224
TORHOU
TXC481-092300-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WHARTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 600 PM CDT

* AT 519 PM CDT...LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A TORNADO ON ALABAMA ROAD 
ON THE EAST SIDE OF WHARTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  HUNGERFORD...WHARTON

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 2936 9618 2923 9604 2933 9595 2943 9604

$$

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, 3:37 PM CDT, 1 hour 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 3:37 PM CDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

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

DONT HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO WRITE TODAY...SO ITLL BE QUICK.

SHORT WAVE CURRENTLY MOVING ESE ACROSS OUR CWA WITH WIDESPREAD
MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAIN PREVAILING. BELIEVE THE THREAT
OF SOME ADDITIONAL LOW TOP SPINNERS IS GOING DOWN AS I TYPE BASED ON
OUR LATEST VWP. ADDITIONAL SCT PRECIP IS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP TO
OUR WEST AND SOUTH WHERE BREAKS OF SUNSHINE HAVE ALLOWED TEMPS TO
CLIMB INTO THE MID 80S. APPEARS RAINFALL WILL MOSTLY END FROM WEST
TO EAST DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.

DONT THINK LLVLS OF THE ATMOS WILL DRY OUT ALL THAT MUCH IN THE
WAKE OF THE PASSING SHORTWAVE...ESP SW ZONES. WILL MAINTAIN 20-40%
POPS FOR FRI. NEXT FRONT/WIND SHIFT FORECAST ON SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM
DOES NOT APPEAR ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE TEMPERATURE-WISE NOR DOES IT DRY
US OUT ALL THAT MUCH EITHER. STRONGER FRONT LOOKS TO ARRIVE NEXT
TUESDAY. SO OVERALL...LOWISH POPS REMAIN IN THE FCST FOR THE NEXT
5-7 DAYS.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE MEDIA OUTLETS AND SPOTTERS THAT RELAYED
REPORTS TO US EARLIER THIS MORNING THOSE TYPE OF STORMS ARE WHAT WE
TYPICALLY SEE IN THE SUMMER MONTHS DURING THE MORNING HOURS THAT
MANY TIMES PRODUCE FUNNELS/WATERSPOUTS AND ARE A BEAR TO WARN ON.
THE REPORTS REALLY HELPED OUT...

47/45

.HGX...NONE.

CLL BB 069/084 067/084 065 521
IAH EB 071/082 068/084 066 832
GLS EB 075/081 074/082 073 842

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 9, 3:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before

GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-
227-235>238-100500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
350 PM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

...HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS......

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.
RAIN WITH EMBEDDED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM WILL CONTINUE ALONG A
WEAK BOUNDARY FROM THE NAVASOTA AREA TO LAKE HOUSTON TO BEAUMONT
AREA. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE EAST OVER THE BOUNDARY
FOCUSING THE HEAVIER RAINFALL AS IT MOVES EAST THIS EVENING.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO PORTIONS OF THE
AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST AS WELL THOUGH ACCUMULATIONS FROM THESE
SHOULD BE LESS.

RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 INCH WILL BE FAIRLY COMMON WITH ISOLATED
AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE IN MAINLY HARRIS...MONTGOMERY...AND
LIBERTY COUNTIES.

.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.

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, 1:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Chambers, Liberty	39 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, 5:41 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.