Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 1

January 24, 2004Sabine Parish, Louisiana; 27 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 24, 2004, 5:25 PM CST for Sabine Parish, Louisiana; 27 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 24, 2004, 5:25 PM CST (23:25 UTC)
Expired: Jan 25, 2004, 12:00 AM CST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 28 counties

Sabine Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Austin County, TX, Brazoria County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Fort Bend County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Harris County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jackson County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Madison County, TX, Matagorda County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Newton County, TX, Polk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Walker County, TX, Waller County, TX, Wharton County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:25 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.

Warnings issued inside it

1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 24, 10:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Polk	18 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 220 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 746 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 197 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 242328
SEL1  
SPC WW 242325
TXZ000-CWZ000-250600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 1
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
525 PM CST SAT JAN 24 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       SOUTHEAST TEXAS
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON FROM 525 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES EAST OF PALACIOS TEXAS TO 25 MILES NORTH
NORTHEAST OF LUFKIN TEXAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.




DISCUSSION...TAIL END OF LEAD SHORTWAVE TROUGH NOW LIFTING NNEWD
ACROSS CENTRAL TX IS SUPPORTING INCREASE IN THUNDERSTORMS
APPROACHING SERN TX ATTM.  THOUGH INSTABILITY WILL REMAIN LIMITED
WITH SBCAPES AT OR BELOW 1000 J/KG...DEEP ASCENT IS EXPECTED TO
SUPPORT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INTO SERN TX WHERE THE GREATEST
INSTABILITY RESIDES.  LOW LCL HEIGHTS AND VERY STRONG SHEAR IN THE
LOW TO MID TROPOSPHERE WARRANT A RISK OF TORNADOES SHOULD ACTIVITY
BECOME ROOTED IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 350.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25040.


...EVANS

284,0965 313,0954 313,0932 284,0943

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 24, 3:55 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atascosa, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Burleson, Caldwell and 18 more	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 2004 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2004 Every tornado watch in 2004

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.