Tornado in Texas, July 28, 2003

Name: Tornado in Texas, July 28, 2003
Start: 2003-07-28T10:35
End: 2003-07-28T12:15
Location: Texas

July 28, 2003 · NWS HGX · 3 events in 1 county or zone

2 funnel cloud, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Jul 28, 9:00 AM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 9:00 AM CST, 1 hour 35 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1000 AM CDT MON JUL 28 2003

SURROUNDING 12Z SOUNDINGS INDICATE HIGH PWATS ACROSS SOUTHERN
PORTIONS OF CWFA (ABOUT 2.2 INCHES) AND DRIER NORTHWARD. 850-700 MB
RIDGE OVER REGION AND THIS FEATURE IS LESS PRONOUNCED AT 500 MB.
UPPER LEVEL LOW NEAR APPROACHING BAJA IS TROUGHING NE TO W TEXAS.
PACIFIC AND GULF MOISTURE IS BEING ADVECTED TO SOUTH TEXAS
W/CONSEQUENT HIGHER POPS. OUR REGION WILL AGAIN EXPERIENCE SEA
BREEZE CONVECTION W/CONTINUED CHANCE (30 PERCENT) POPS COASTAL
REGION AND SLIGHT CHANCE NORTHWARD. MARINE REGION RATHER TRANQUIL
W/BOUYS REPORTING 1-2 FT SEAS W/4-5 SECONDS PERIOD. FORECAST PACKAGE
ON TRACK.

37/38

.HGX...NONE.

CLL BB 095/074 094/074 093 212
IAH BB 094/075 093/075 092 213
GLS BB 089/080 088/080 088 323

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...
THE MAIN WEATHER FEATURE AFFECTING SE TX...ALBEIT A WEAK ONE...WAS
HIGH PRESSURE AT 850 AND 700 MB CENTERED OVER THE EASTERN THIRD OF
THE STATE.  THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE CENTERED IN THE UT AREA EXTENDED
OVERHEAD...THOUGH THERE WAS A WEAKNESS OVER SE TX AND THE ADJACENT
GULF WATERS.  WEAK FEATURES WOULD BE THE BEST TERM TO DESCRIBE THE
00Z ANALYSIS.  FEEL THAT THE LOW- AND MID-LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE AREA
WILL KEEP RAIN CHANCES LOW TODAY AS OCCURRED YESTERDAY WITH THE BEST
RAIN CHANCES FURTHER DOWN THE COAST TOWARD CRP AND BRO (THE 700 MB
DEWPOINT ANALYSIS SHOWS THIS PREFERRED AREA NICELY).

THE FINER DETAILS IN THE MODELS WERE TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT GIVEN
THE WEAK PATTERN.  AFTER TODAY THE GFS INDICATES THE HIGH PRESSURE
CENTER AT 850 AND 700 MB SHOULD DRIFT NORTHWARD AND DISSIPATE ENOUGH
TO ALLOW SCATTERED DAYTIME POPS BACK INTO THE MAJORITY OF THE INLAND
LOCATIONS.  TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION THE ECMWF TRENDING TOWARD THE GFS
IN BRINGING THE WESTERN CENTER OF THE 500 MB RIDGE TOWARD TX BY THE
END OF THE SEVEN-DAY PERIOD.  THE ECMWF HAD A STRONGER RIDGE WHILE THE
GFS HAD A DEEPER TROUGH TO THE NORTH.  AS THE HIGH BUILDS TOWARD TX...
BOTH MODELS PUSH A WEAK COLD FRONT INTO THE RED RIVER VALLEY THE
LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK.  THIS FRONT SHOULD NOT BE MUCH OF A FACTOR IN
SE TX.  HOWEVER...IF IT DOES DRIFT FAR ENOUGH SOUTH AS THE FRONT DID
LAST WEEK THERE WILL THEN BE A LOW-LEVEL FOCUS IN PLACE FOR BETTER
RAIN CHANCES BY FRIDAY.

PL-40
30

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 28, 6:00 AM CST, 4 hours 35 minutes before

GMZ330-335-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-291200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
700 AM CDT MON JUL 28 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.
NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.  NO HAZARDOUS
WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 156 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:13 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 funnel cloud, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Funnel Cloud, Jackson

When: July 28, 10:35 AM CST
Where: Jackson County, 6 mi ESE of Edna
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 28.954, -96.578 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Spotted at 111 South near Lake Texana.

Funnel Cloud, Jackson

When: July 28, 12:10 PM CST
Where: Jackson County, 1 mi S of Vanderbilt
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 28.954, -96.578 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Tornado, Jackson

When: July 28, 12:15 PM CST
Where: Jackson County, La Salle
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.2 mi
Path width: 15 yd
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 28.783, -96.667

Tornado that briefly touched down likely began as a waterspout over Lavaca Bay or Redfish Lake and rapidly dissipated after moving over land.

What these are

Funnel Cloud: A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Texas, 2003 Warnings in Texas, July 2003

Sources

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: 5372568, 5372569, 5372570.