Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 4, 1987Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1987, 1:38 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 22 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 4, 1987, 1:38 PM CDT (18:38 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1987, 2:00 PM CDT
In force
22 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, TX

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, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 96 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

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBPT 041839
TORBPT
TXC245-041900-

BULLETIN-EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORT ARTHUR TX
138 PM CDT MON MAY 4 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING FOR PERSONS
IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

TEXAS...
     JEFFERSON... UNTIL 200 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON.

AT 133 PM CDT THIS AFTERNOON, WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PORT ARTHUR MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN
HOUR.

PERSONS IN PORT ACRES AND PORT ARTHUR SHOULD SEEK SAFE SHELTER 
IMMEDIATELY.


BOATS ON LAKE SABINE SHOULD SEEK SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY.

DCG

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, 1:43 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHJasper, Newton37 min
May 4, 1:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHOrange52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes 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.