Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 178
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 28, 2026, 7:50 PM CDT for 11 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 28, 2026, 7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 29, 2026, 12:35 AM CDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 3 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Anderson County, TX, Falls County, TX, Freestone County, TX, Henderson County, TX, Houston County, TX, Leon County, TX, Limestone County, TX, Madison County, TX, McLennan County, TX, Robertson County, TX, Trinity County, TX
The radar
The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:53 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
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 60%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 60%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 8:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Ellis, Hill, Limestone, McLennan, Navarro | 55 min |
| Apr 28, 9:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Freestone, Hill, Limestone, Navarro | 81 min |
| Apr 28, 9:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Bosque, Hill, McLennan | 64 min |
| Apr 28, 10:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | McLennan | 52 min |
| Apr 28, 10:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Freestone, Leon, Limestone | 24 min |
| Apr 28, 10:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Falls, Limestone, McLennan | 65 min |
| Apr 28, 11:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD | Falls, Leon, Limestone, Robertson | 43 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
Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 299 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
- 2442 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -46 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1317 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 221 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 537 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 4.8
- Supercell composite
- 35.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 7:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Ellis, Erath, Hill, Hood, Johnson, Navarro and 1 more | 118 min |
| Apr 28, 9:28 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Falls, Freestone, Hill, Leon, Limestone, McLennan and 1 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 29, 10:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bowie, Camp, Cass, Delta, Franklin, Gregg and 16 more | 114 min |
| Apr 29, 11:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Anderson, Bosque, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee and 33 more | 10 hr |
| Apr 29, 12:54 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bandera, Bexar, Blanco, Caldwell, Comal, Edwards and 12 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 29, 1:37 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bosque, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee and 34 more | 113 min |
| Apr 29, 3:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Bandera, Crockett, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Kerr and 10 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 29, 5:20 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Sabine, San Augustine, Shelby | 115 min |
| Apr 29, 5:50 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bandera, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Kerr, Kinney and 7 more | 85 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.