Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 19, 1988, 7:50 AM CST for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 25 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 19, 1988, 7:50 AM CST (13:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 19, 1988, 8:15 AM CST
- In force
- 25 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 12:00Z, 1.8 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1053 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 611 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 76 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 209 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 227 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.3
- Supercell composite
- 6.0
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 tornado 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, Jan 19, 4:36 AM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 436 AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 AT 430 AM...A NEAR SOLID LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NEAR HOUSTON TO JASPER TEXAS ACROSS TOLEDO BEND RESERVOIR INTO NORTHWEST LOUISIANA. SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE SHOWN FROM NEAR BEAUMONT AND PORT ARTHUR TEXAS TO JUST WEST OF DERIDDER LOUISIANA. A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS ALSO OCCURRING NEAR BLACK LAKE IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FROM NEAR SABINE PASS TEXAS THROUGH THE LAKE CHARLES AND KINDER AREAS TO OAKDALE...ALEXANDRIA...AND JENA. THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
Special weather statement, Jan 19, 5:24 AM CST, 2 hours 26 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORT ARTHUR TX 520AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 3 NO LONGER IN EFFECT... TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 3 HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT IN THE EAST TEXAS LAKES AREA. STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHEASTWARD ALONG A LINE FROM NEAR HOUSTON ACROSS HARDIN COUNTY ON THROUGH TOLEDO BEND RESERVIOR AND INTO LOUISIANA. AT 515 AM CST A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS JUST NORTH OF VILLAGE MILLS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 25 MPH. ANOTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS WEST OF WARREN AND WILL MOVE OVER THE CITY OF WOODVILLE IN TYLER COUNTY DROPPING HEAVY RAINS. A FIFTY PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES THROUGH THE MORNING FOR MOST OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS WITH AFTERNOON HIGHS RISING INTO THE LOW 70S.
Special weather statement, Jan 19, 5:41 AM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 541 AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 AT 530 AM...SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NEAR HIGH ISLAND TEXAS ACROSS THE BEAUMONT PORT ARTHUR AREA TO NEAR DEQUINCY... FORT POLK...OAKDALE...AND ALEXANDRIA LOUISIANA. OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE NUMEROUS FROM THE BLACK LAKE AREA OF CENTRAL LOUISIANA ACROSS MANY AND TOLEDO BEND LAKE INTO EAST TEXAS FROM RAYBURN LAKE TO THE AREA BETWEEN KOUNTZE AND LAKE LIVINGSTON. THESE WERE PART OF A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THAT EXTENDED EAST OF A LINE FROM GALVESTON TO LAKE LIVINGSTON AND LUFKIN TEXAS INTO LOUISIANA FROM NEAR CAMERON TO JENNINGS...ALEXANDRIA ...AND MONROE. THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
Special weather statement, Jan 19, 6:27 AM CST, 1 hour 23 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORT ARTHUR TX 620AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 4 IN EFFECT UNTIL 100 PM CST... PARTS OF EXTREME SOUTHEAST TEXAS ARE UNDER A TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 100 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON. THE WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... JEFFERSON, ORANGE, HARDIN, TYLER, JASPER, NEWTON, AND IN THE LAKES AREA...SABINE COUNTY. THE TORNAOD WATCH, ALSO, INCLUDES THE COASTAL WATERS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. AT 600 AM MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WAS IN TYLER, JASPER, NEWTON, AND SABINE COUNTIES. THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 25 MPH MOST OF THE NIGHT. HEAVY RAINS HAVE FALLEN IN HARDIN AND TYLER COUNTIES EARLY THIS TUESDAY MORNING. ALTHOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN STRONG THUNDERSTORMS BETWEEN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE AND THE LAKES AREA SINCE SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...THERE HAVE BEEN NO REPORTS OF SEVERE WEATHER.
Special weather statement, Jan 19, 6:42 AM CST, 1 hour 8 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 642 AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1PM FOR ALL SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA PARISHES EXCEPT LAFAYETTE PARISH... AT 630 AM...NUMEROUS STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FROM NEAR CAMERON...BEAUMONT...PORT ARTHUR...AND HOUSTON NORTHEAST THROUGH THE KINDER...DERIDDER... LEESVILLE AND RAYVBURN LAKE AREAS TO NATCHITOCHES...WINNFIELD... ALEXANDRIA...AND JENA. THESE WERE ALSO SHOWN OFF THE SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA COAST JUST SOUTHWEST OF CAMERON. THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.
Special weather statement, Jan 19, 7:33 AM CST, 17 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 733 AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1PM FOR ALL SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA PARISHES EXCEPT LAFAYETTE PARISH... AT 725 AM...NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND STRONG THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED FROM NEAR BEAUMONT TEXAS NORTHEAST TO DEQUINCY...DERIDDER...AND FORT POLK LOUISIANA AND KIRBYVILLE AND JASPER TEXAS INTO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FROM MANSFIELD TO BLACK LAKE TO MONROE. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO OCCURRING ACROSS SOUTH LOUISIANA FROM THE LAKE CHARLES AREA TO WHITE LAKE AND LAFAYETTE EXTENDING NORTHEAST TO ALEXANDRIA AND INTO SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI. THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes in 1988
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.