Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 9, 2003Harris County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this tornado warning at Oct 9, 2003, 5:41 PM CDT for Harris County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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, 5:41 PM CDT (22:41 UTC)
Expired: Oct 9, 2003, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Harris 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, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 187 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 092241
TORHOU
TXC201-092330-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 539 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LA PORTE...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE...
  LA PORTE
  SAN JACINTO STATE PARK
  BAYTOWN

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 2962 9514 2960 9510 2974 9494 2980 9503

$$

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, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 3:37 PM CDT, 2 hours 4 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 51 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, 5:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Wharton	36 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.