Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 4, 1987Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 1987, 2:06 PM CDT for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 54 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 4, 1987, 2:06 PM CDT (19:06 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1987, 3:00 PM CDT
In force
54 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Calcasieu 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 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 19 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1987-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 241 joules per kilogram.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.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1987-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 114 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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.
Mixed-layer CAPE
241 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-345 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1045 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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, May 4, 1:54 PM CDT, 12 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
150 PM CDT MON MAY 4 1987

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...

AT 125 PM RADAR SHOWED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN WESTERN CAMERON PARISH
JUST NORTHEAST OF SABINE PASS. THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE VERY HEAVY
RAIN...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS...AND POSSIBLY SOME SMALL
HAIL.

SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO SHOWN NEAR DEQUINCY...AND IN
EXTREME EAST TEXAS BETWEEN HIGH ISLAND...SABINE PASS...KOUNTZE AND
JASPER. RAIN WAS ALSO SHOWN IN EAST TEXAS BETWEEN LUFKIN...RAYBURN LAKE
AND LIBERTY.

SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED BETWEEN BUNKIE...MORGAN
CITY AND BATON ROUGE...=AND NEAR BOTH WHITE LAKE AND VERMILION BAY.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 1:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHJefferson60 min
May 4, 1:38 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHJefferson22 min
May 4, 1:43 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHJasper, Newton37 min
May 4, 1:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHOrange52 min
May 4, 1:58 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHCameron32 min
May 4, 2:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHAllen54 min
May 4, 3:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHRapides64 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

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.