Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 10, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 12, 1986Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 12, 1986, 1:00 AM CST for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 12, 1986, 1:00 AM CST (07:00 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 1986, 2:00 AM CST
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 110 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 2215 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.0
Supercell composite: 11.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 11, 10:48 PM CST, 2 hours 12 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1045 PM CST TUE MAR 11 1986

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4AM WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR...
BEAUREGARD...CALCASIEU...CAMERON...VERNON...ALLEN...AND JEFFERSON
DAVIS PARISHES IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...AND FOR RAPIDES LA SALLE AND
GRANT PARISHES IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

AT 1025 PM...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER THE NORTHERN
TIP OF TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR NORTHEAST TO NEAR MANSFIELD. THESE
THUNDERSTORMS WERE ONLY PART OF A LINE WHICH EXTENDED ACROSS NORTHWEST
LOUISIANA INTO SOUTHERN ARKANSAS.  THE LINE APPEARED TO BE MOVING EAST
AT 30 MPH.

Special weather statement, Mar 11, 11:44 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1145 PM CST TUE MAR 11 1986

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4AM WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR
MUCH OF SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

AT 1125 PM...A LINE OF NUMEROUS VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED
FROM NORTHEAST OF MANSFIELD TO THE NORTH END OF TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR
TO 30 MILES EAST OF LAKE LIVINGSTON TEXAS.  THE LINE WAS MOVING SOUTH-
EAST AT 30 MPH.

ANOTHER LINE OF VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WAS SHOWN IN EAST TEXAS FROM
NEAR LUFKIN TO LAKE LIVINGSTON TO NEAR CONROE.  THIS LINE OF THUNDER-
STORMS WAS ALSO MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

A LARGE AREA OF RAIN WAS SHOWN WEST OF LUFKIN AND LAKE LIVINGSTON.

Special weather statement, Mar 12, 12:47 AM CST, 13 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1240 AM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4AM WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR
MUCH OF SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

AT 1225 PM...A LINE OF NUMEROUS VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED
FROM ABOUT 30 MILES NORTHWEST OF WINNFIELD TO THE CENTRAL PORTION OF
TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR TO JUST WEST OF KOUNTZE TEXAS.

THE LINE WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL MOVE INTO
VERNON PARISH IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA BY 1AM THIS MORNING.  STRONG GUSTY
WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAINS WILL ACCOMPANY THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS.

RADAR ALSO SHOWED A LARGE AREA OF RAIN IN NORTHWEST LOUISIANA AND EAST
TEXAS FROM A HOUSTON...KIRBYVILLE TEXAS...MANSFIELD LOUISIANA LINE
TO WELL WEST OF HOUSTON...LUFKIN TEXAS...AND SAN AUGUSTINE TEXAS.

RAIN HAD ALSO DEVELOPED FROM JUST NORTH OF DERIDDER TO 30 MILES
NORTHEAST OF LEESVILLE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 11, 10:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Angelina, Tyler	95 min
Mar 11, 10:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	San Augustine	95 min
Mar 12, 2:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jefferson, Orange	45 min
Mar 12, 2:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jasper	45 min
Mar 12, 1:12 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Vernon	18 min
Mar 12, 1:20 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Grant, Rapides	40 min
Mar 12, 3:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	60 min
Mar 12, 4:40 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	60 min
Mar 12, 7:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Lafayette	30 min
Mar 12, 8:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Cameron	60 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 1986 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

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.