Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2014
Tornado Watch 189
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 26, 2014, 3:50 PM CDT for 17 counties in Texas. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 26, 2014, 3:50 PM CDT (20:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 26, 2014, 7:21 PM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Aransas County, TX, Bee County, TX, Brazoria County, TX, Calhoun County, TX, Chambers County, TX, Fort Bend County, TX, Galveston County, TX, Goliad County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Harris County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Matagorda County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Orange County, TX, Refugio County, TX, San Patricio County, TX
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:51 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 4:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | CRP | Bee, San Patricio | 33 min |
| May 26, 4:16 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Fort Bend, Harris, Waller | 119 min |
| May 26, 4:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | CRP | Bee, Refugio, San Patricio | 30 min |
| May 26, 6:02 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | HGX | Brazoria, Fort Bend, Harris, Waller | 3 hr |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 176 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
- 1630 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 491 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 45 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 127 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 4.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
497 WWUS20 KWNS 262049 SEL9 SPC WW 262049 TXZ000-CWZ000-270200- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 189 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 345 PM CDT MON MAY 26 2014 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF THE MIDDLE AND UPPER TEXAS GULF COASTAL PLAIN COASTAL WATERS * EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 345 PM UNTIL 900 PM CDT. * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE ISOLATED LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 35 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF BEEVILLE TEXAS TO 15 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF PORT ARTHUR TEXAS. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU9). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 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. && OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 187...WW 188... DISCUSSION...LONG-LIVED...WEAKLY-ROTATING SUPERCELL ASSOCIATED WITH LOOSELY-ORGANIZED E TX MCS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING GENERALLY NE THROUGH THE HOUSTON AREA INTO SE TX. A SIMILAR STORM OR TWO ALSO COULD FORM FARTHER SW NEAR INFLECTION ALONG THE MCS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IN THE AREA N OF CRP. MODEST SWLY DEEP SHEAR COUPLED WITH CONTINUED SFC HEATING OF VERY MOIST INFLOW AIR SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR OCCASIONAL WET MICROBURSTS AND A COUPLE TORNADOES THROUGH EARLY TNGT. 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 550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24015. ...CORFIDI
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 7:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Armstrong, Bailey, Carson, Castro, Cochran and 18 more | 92 min |
| May 25, 9:54 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Bailey, Cochran, Gaines, Hale, Hockley and 3 more | 66 min |
| May 26, 4:07 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atascosa, Bee, DeWitt, Goliad, Karnes, Victoria | 113 min |
| May 26, 10:09 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atascosa, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Blanco, Caldwell and 20 more | 66 min |
| May 26, 2:44 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Andrews, Borden, Coke, Crockett, Crosby, Dawson and 22 more | 61 min |
| May 26, 3:03 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Andrews, Borden, Coke, Coleman, Concho, Cottle and 44 more | 8 hr |
| May 26, 3:29 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston and 8 more | 61 min |
| May 26, 5:31 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brazoria, Chambers, Liberty, Nueces | 59 min |
| May 26, 6:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Borden, Coke, Crockett, Crosby, Dawson, Dickens and 23 more | 88 min |
| May 26, 6:18 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Archer, Baylor, Wichita, Wilbarger | 87 min |
Nearby
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.