Corpus Christi, TX

Weather Forecast Office

Hurricane Emily

Hurricane Emily made landfall approximately 200 miles to the south of Corpus Christi in Northeastern Mexico on July 20, 2005, however the mid Texas coast experienced two of the four major hazards that hurricanes can offer, including coastal flooding and tornadoes.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service worked around the clock monitoring Emily's every move for over a week before she made landfall. Coordination calls were made every 6 hours with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and with local officals in the South Texas region. The NHC track forecast was very accurate and the coastal bend was spared from the brunt of the storm. Emily Storm History However the powerful winds from Emily generated large 30 foot waves over the open ocean, which were dampened slightly before pounding the mid Texas coast. The large swells were excellent for surfing, but potentially deadly, helping to produce strong rip currents that could easily push the inexperienced swimmer out to sea.

Emily made landfall during peak high tide. Water levels rose to 2.0 to 2.5 feet above normal resulting in storm tides of 3.5 feet mean sea level along the barrier island from Bob Hall Pier southward. These higher than normal tides caused flooding of area beaches and beach access roads up to several feet deep. The Padre Island National Sea Shore closed down the beach several days before Emily made landfall. Beaches farther north eventually closed as well as the strong surf flooded beach access roads. Some vehicles were stranded in water several feet deep.

Tide Charts

Bob Hall Pier	Ingleside	Port Aranasas	Rockport

Storm Stats
Site	Peak Wind Time (LST)	Peak 2 min. Wind Time (LST)	Lowest Press Time (LST)	24 hr Rainfall
ASOS/AWSS
Alice 07/19/05	E 39 mph, 1657	E 31 mph, 1658	29.87 in, 2100	0.44 inches
07/20/05	E 46 mph, 1310	E 39 mph, 1310	29.85 in., 0426	0.35 inches
Corpus Christi 07/19/05	E 41 mph, 1335	E 36 mph 1335	29.86 in., 2057	0.04 inches
07/20/05	E 35 mph, 1613	E 29 mph, 1614	29.84 in., 0318	0.14 inches
Cotulla 07/19/05	ESE 32 mph, 1728	ESE 28 mph, 1737	29.87 in., 1609	0.00 inches
07/20/05	E 25 mph, 1539	E 20 mph, 1540	29.90 in., 0419	0.15 inches
Victoria 07/19/05	SE 36 mph, 1626	SE 26, 1627	29.92 in., 2117	0.01 inches
07/20/05	NE 29 mph, 1753	NE 24, 1753	29.91 in., 0408	0.22 inches
Laredo 07/19/05	ESE 42 Kts, 1513	SE 3 7Kts, 1514	NA	Trace
07/20/05	Missing	Missing	NA
NAS Kingsville 07/19/05	E 38 mph, 1618	E 28, 1619	29.85 in., 2150	Missing
07/20/05	ENE 32 mph, 1028	E 25 mph, 1532	29.83 in., 0539	Missing
McMullen Target Site 07/19/05	ESE 33 mph, 1559	ESE 28 mph, 1559	30.30 in., 2359	Missing
07/20/05	NE 26 mph, 1515	NE 21 mph, 1600	30.30 in., 1557	Missing
Orange Grove NALF 07/19/05	E 32 mph, 1311	E 28 mph, 1312	29.84 in., 2056	0.62 inches
07/20/05	NE 33 mph, 1114	NE 28 mph, 1114	29.82 in., 0309	0.24 inches
TCOON Sites
Baffin Bay 07/19/05	45 mph, 1412	NE 34 mph, 1436	29.79 in., 2036	NA
07/20/05	40 mph, 0736	NE 33 mph, 0736	29.76 in., 0300	NA
Bob Hall Pier 07/19/05	37 mph, 2200	NE 32 mph, 1900	29.83 in., 2100	NA
07/20/05	34 mph, 0200	ENE 31 mph, 0200	29.82 in., 0300	NA
Ingleside 07/19/05	30 mph, 2100	ENE 23 mph, 2100	NA	NA
07/20/05	29 mph, 1500	ENE 23 mph, 1300	NA	NA
Site	Peak Wind Date/Time	Fastest 2 min. Wind Date/time	Lowest Press Date/time	24 hr Rainfall Date
TCOON Sites
Port Aransas 07/19/05	30 mph, 1900	ENE 25 mph, 1900	NA	NA
07/20/05	28 mph, 0700	ESE 20 mph, 2300 previous day	NA	NA
S. Bird Island 07/19/05	39 mph, 1442	ENE 31 mph, 1430	NA	NA
07/20/05	34 mph, 0742	ENE 28 mph, 0612	NA	NA
Sea Drift 07/19/05	26 mph, 1200	NE 16 mph, 1300	NA	NA
07/20/05	26 mph, 1300	ENE 17 mph, 0900	NA	NA
White Point 07/19/05	33 mph, 1336	E 23 mph, 1336	NA	NA
07/20/05	26 mph, 1350	E 18 mph, 1350	NA	NA

On the day of landfall, showers and thunderstorms, in the outer rainbands, became more intense and fanned a region from deep south Texas northward to the mid coast region. Strong low level wind shear combined with an increasingly unstable airmass resulted in an outbreak of tornadoes across the western Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Plains. Five tornadoes were confirmed to have touch down with several other unconfirmed tornadoes reported throughout the day. The strongest tornado, rated F1 (winds 73 to 112 mph) on the Fujita Scale, demolished a mobile home and tore the roof off a residence in north central Jim Wells County near the community of Tecolote. Trees were stripped of their limbs or uprooted along a 12 mile path from this tornado as it crossed into northern Duval County. Another tornado touched down in southern Jim Wells County near the town of Premont. This tornado ripped the roof off one home and damaged trees and electrical poles along a seven mile path into southern Duval County. The storm that produced this tornado eventually produced another tornado near the town of Bruni in southern Webb County about an hour later. In all, five tornadoes were confirmed. Fortunately, there were no injuries or fatalities.

The Anna Rose Tornado was observed by several law enforcement officers. This tornado touched down in open brush country about 4 miles south of Anna Rosa. A NWS storm survey team found no visible damages from this tornado.

The Tynan Tornado was photographed by a citizen in Tynan. This tornado touched down in open country a couple miles south of Tynan. A NWS storm survey team found no visible damages from this tornado.

Tecolote Tornado (EF-1 Tornado with a Path Length of 12 miles)

Tecolote Tornado as it moved into Duval County

Premont Tornado (EF-0 Tornado with a Path Length of 7 miles)

Bruni Tornado (EF-0 Tornado with a Path Length of 1 mile)

Port Aransas one day before landfall

Port Aransas on the actual day of landfall

Bob Hall Pier one day before landfall

Bob Hall Pier on the actual day of landfall (Tides reached 3.5 ft MSL)

Tornadoes are common in Hurricanes and are generated in two areas: The eye wall region, and in the northeast quadrant of the hurricane, about 150 to 250 miles northeast of the center. The National Weather Service in Corpus Christi issued 34 tornado warnings on this day. Many of the residents in the path of the tornadoes sought shelter after hearing about these warnings on television. The NWS would like to thank the broadcast media for their help in getting this critical warning information out to the public.

Tecolote and Premont Supercells

Reflectivity Loop of Tecolote Supercelll	Storm Relative Velocity Loop of Tecolote Supercell

Reflectivity Loop of Premont Supercelll	Storm Relative Velocity Loop of Premont Supercell

Rainfall

Upper Air Maps and Soundings

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