Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1999

F1 tornado, Gilchrist, Texas, January 2, 1999

This F1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Galveston County on January 2, 1999, touching down at 12:20 AM CST. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
January 2, 1999
Touchdown
12:20 AM CST (06:20 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
0 yards (0 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Galveston County
Touchdown point
29.520, -94.480
Lift-off point
29.520, -94.480
Record number
738

What the Weather Service recorded

The initial touchdown occurred just off Hwy 87 at the intersection of Car Street and Featherstone Street where it ripped off the roof of a dilapidated house. In addition, a motorized boat was tossed from this location and found approximately 150 to 200 feet (from interview with resident) down the street. Numerous pieces of wood were embedded into the ground. Street signs were also downed by high winds.

The initial touchdown was near the beach where it partially destroyed a beach home on stilts and a moderate sized radio tower. The most significant damage occurred to a housewhere approximately 100 windows were blown out. In addition high winds rolled a motor home about 10 feet.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

55 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:25 UTC, 55 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:55 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
05:25 UTC06:55 UTCTornado WarningHGX
05:50 UTC06:55 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

6.3 hours before the tornado, 140 km from the path. January 2, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-01-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 437 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 704 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-01-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 202 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
437 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
733 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
704 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

5.7 hours after it, 140 km from the path. January 2, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-01-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 55 joules per kilogram, CIN -42, lifted condensation level 811 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-01-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -139 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
55 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Surface CAPE
125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
811 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-139 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-261 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Galveston 209B (GVW), 44 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
04:32 UTC17.615.820° 12 kt1012.5-SN
04:53 UTC17.615.820° 10 kt1012.9-SN BR
05:53 UTC17.615.810° 11 kt1012.5
06:53 UTC17.615.8350° 8 kt1013.2-SN BR
07:53 UTC17.614340° 10 kt1012.2-SN BR

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:20 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 2, 1999

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 212:26 AM CSTF0Galveston, TX0.30$30,000
January 212:45 AM CSTF2Jasper, TX4.5250110$1.3 million
January 21:05 AM CSTF0Calcasieu Parish, LA2.5100$30,000
January 21:25 AM CSTF2Beauregard Parish, LA1.0100$50,000
January 21:50 AM CSTF1Calcasieu Parish, LA2.550$70,000
January 21:50 AM CSTF1Beauregard Parish, LA3.0400$50,000
January 21:50 AM CSTF2Beauregard Parish, LA5.0400$50,000
January 22:20 AM CSTF1Allen Parish, LA2.0200$50,000
January 22:30 AM CSTF2Calcasieu Parish, LA4.04002$250,000
January 23:00 AM CSTF1Jefferson Davis Parish, LA1.050$100,000
January 23:10 AM CSTF2Acadia Parish, LA10.0400$500,000
January 24:00 AM CSTF1Saint Landry Parish, LA1.050$100,000
January 25:30 AM ESTF1Palm Beach, FL3.230$5.9 million
January 24:32 AM CSTF0Vermilion Parish, LA2.0200$50,000
January 24:42 AM CSTF0Vermilion Parish, LA1.0100$50,000
January 24:57 AM CSTF1Iberia Parish, LA4.0200$1.5 million
January 25:40 AM CSTF1St. Mary Parish, LA2.01001$70,000
January 26:43 AM CSTF1Terrebonne Parish, LA1.050$700,000
January 27:00 AM CSTF1Lafourche Parish, LA1.050$280,000
January 211:40 AM CSTF0Santa Rosa, FL0.10
January 22:10 PM CSTF2Bay, FL3.81007$4.0 million
January 24:10 PM ESTF0Pierce, GA2.510$40,000
January 23:30 PM CSTF0Gulf, FL1.00$30,000
January 210:26 PM ESTF0Hernando, FL0.50$70,000
January 211:10 PM ESTF0Sarasota, FL2.320$250,000
January 211:15 PM ESTF0Putnam, FL5.010$40,000
January 211:22 PM ESTF1Hillsborough, FL2.3101$150,000
January 211:35 PM ESTF1Hillsborough, FL0.2100$150,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.