1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Dec 16, 2:28 PM CST, 5 hours 16 minutes earlier.
SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
228 PM CST SUN DEC 16 2001
SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE AND INTENSITY HAS BEGUN TO INCREASE
ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON. AT THIS TIME...
THE GREATEST CONCENTRATION IS STILL UP IN FTWS COUNTY WARNING AREA
WHERE THE BEST TRAINING IS OCCURRING. AS THE UPPER LOW NOW OUT IN
WEST TEXAS CONTINUES TO MOVE TO THE EAST...MID AND UPPER LEVEL
FORCING IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE ACROSS OUR AREA...ESPECIALLY IN OUR
NORTHERN ZONES CLOSER TO THE WARM FRONTAL BOUNDARY. THIS WILL RESULT
IN A GREATER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS DUE TO PRETTY DECENT
SHEAR. STILL THINK WE CAN GET SOME SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP
BEHIND THE MAIN SQUALL LINE THAT IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATER THIS
AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. LAPSE RATES WILL BE STEEPENING AS THE
UPPER LOW PROGRESSES CLOSER TO OUR AREA...AND OUR EXTREMELY MOIST
AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS MAY BECOME MORE SUPPORTIVE OF SEVERE STORMS.
WILL KEEP THE MENTION OF SEVERE STORMS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IN
ALL ZONES FOR TONIGHT. SEVERE THREAT WILL BE GONE BY MORNING...BUT
IT IS STILL POSSIBLE SOME SHOWERS MAY LINGER ACROSS THE AREA AROUND
AND SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE. AFTER MONDAY...DO NOT EXPECT THE RETURN
FLOW TO BE SUFFICIENT FOR ANY POPS WITH THE NEXT FRONTAL PASSAGE ON
WEDNESDAY. THIS FRONT WILL REINFORCE OUR COOL NIGHTS AND MILD DAYS.
THEN BEGINNING ON FRIDAY...A RETURN FLOW DOES BEGIN AS THE NEXT
UPPER LOW DEVELOPS OUT WEST. THERE IS MUCH UNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW
STRONG/HOW DEEP/HOW FAST THIS NEXT UPPER LOW WILL BE. FOR NOW...WILL
CONTINUE TO CALL FOR MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. LOOKS LIKE A MUCH COLDER AND
DRIER AIRMASS MIGHT BE HERE IN TIME FOR THE WEEK OF CHRISTMAS.
42/35/39
.HGX...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT TIL 7 PM FOR NORTHERN COUNTIES.
SCA ALL WATERS TONIGHT.
PRELIMS...
CLL BU 048/063 038/066 042 810
IAH BU 052/064 040/066 042 820
GLS BU 057/062 048/064 052 830TXZ163-164-176-177-198-170100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 200 PM CST SUN DEC 16 2001 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CST... A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS UNTIL 700 PM THIS EVENING. THE WATCH COVERS PARTS OF EAST TEXAS...IN THE VICINITY OF A WARM FRONT...NEAR WHICH THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INTENSIFY. THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE WATCH...GRIMES... HOUSTON...MADISON...TRINITY...AND WALKER. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEGUN DEVELOPING ACROSS PORTIONS OF EAST TEXAS... IN ADVANCE OF AN APPROACHING UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH. THE INCREASED LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROUGH SHOULD ALLOW THE STORMS TO INCREASE IN INTENSITY AND AREAL COVERAGE. THE SURFACE FRONT...STRONG LOW-LEVEL WINDS...THE MOVEMENT OF THE UPPER TROUGH...AS WELL AS THE SHEAR RESULTING FROM THESE FEATURES...WILL CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT FAVORABLE FOR ROTATING STORMS. SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS TO THE WEST HAVE ALREADY SHOWN SIGNS OF ROTATION. THIS MEANS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORNADOES... ARE POSSIBLE...IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. BE ALERT FOR DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL IN THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR TORNADO...MOVE INSIDE TO A REINFORCED STRUCTURE AWAY FROM WINDOWS. REPORT DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT...AND ASK THEM TO RELAY THE MESSAGE TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. ALSO BE ALERT FOR HEAVY RAIN THAT WILL CAUSE HIGH STANDING WATER ON ROADS AND IN AREAS OF POOR DRAINAGE. DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WITH HIGH WATER. A COLD FRONT WILL PASS THROUGH THE REGION TONIGHT...ENDING THE PRECIPITATION. DRIER AND COOLER WEATHER WILL ACCOMPANY THE ARRIVAL OF THE WORKWEEK. 39
GMZ335-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-227-238-170500- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 631 PM CST SUN DEC 16 2001 A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR FOR THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS...GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM COLUMBUS TO RICHMOND TO HOUSTON TO GALVESTON. THE TORNADO WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT TILL 11 PM. WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...MOVE INDOORS. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY...AVOID USING TELEPHONES AND ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. DAMAGING WIND... LARGE HAIL...ISOLATED BRIEF TORNADOES AND VERY HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. REMEMBER A WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT SEVERE WEATHER...A WARNING MEANS SEVERE WEATHER IS IMMINENT OR ALREADY OCCURRING. THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE IN THE WATCH. HOUSTON...TRINITY...POLK... MADISON...TYLER...WALKER...BRAZOS...SAN JACINTO...GRIMES...BURLESON... MONTGOMERY...LIBERTY...WASHINGTON...WALLER...HARRIS...AUSTIN... COLORADO...FORT BEND...GALVESTON...AND CHAMBERS. RESIDENTS ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS ARE STRONGLY URGED TO MONITOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND LOCAL NEWS SOURCES AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IN CASE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED.
The Houston radar (KHGX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:41 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
An F0 Tornado touched down in Willis, along Montgomery Street, on FM 1097. Trees were uprooted, power lines were snapped with power outages in town, and there was minor roof damage to some homes. There were no injuries. Reported by Sheriff and public.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2001Warnings in Texas, December 2001
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5275867.