Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jul 16, 1988, 4:46 PM CDT for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 29 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 16, 1988, 4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 16, 1988, 5:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 29 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, 9.8 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2906 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 639 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 4 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -41 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -9 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KLCH 162146 RRA
TORLCH
LAC019-162215-
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
446 PM CDT SAT JUL 16 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 515 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING PARISH
IN THE SOUTHWEST PART OF LOUISIANA
CALCASIEU
AT 4.35 PM CDT THE A SHERIFF DEPUTY REPORTED SIGTHING A TORNADO
NEAR GILES LOUISIANA. RADAR INDICATES VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS
IN THAT AREA MOVING SLIGHTLY EASTWARD.
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN
A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...FIND SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.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, Jul 16, 2:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 242 PM CDT SAT JUL 16 1988 AT 230 PM...NEARLY STATIONARY THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN COVERED MOST OF AN AREA OF LOUISIANA FROM RAPIDES AND EASTERN VERNON PARISHES SOUTHEAST THROUGH ALLEN...EVANGELINE...JEFF DAVIS ...AND ACADIA PARISHES TO THE COAST NEAR WHITE LAKE AND VERMILION BAY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY CAUSE BRIEF FLOODING OF STREETS AND OTHER LOW AREAS AS WELL AS PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. ELSEWHERE WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE SHOWN NEAR BATON ROUGE AND FROM THE NATCHITOCHES...MANSFIELD AREAS OF NORTHWEST LOUISIA(NA THROUGH BEAUREGARD PARISH LOUISIANA AND JASPER AND LUFKIN TEXAS TO NEAR BEAUMONT...GALVESTON BAY AND HOUSTON.
Special weather statement, Jul 16, 3:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 334 PM CDT SAT JUL 16 1988 AT 325 PM...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE SHOWN OVER BEAUREGARD...JEFF DAVIS...AND ALLEN PARISHES OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. THOSE OVER JEFF DAVIS AND ALLEN PARISHES MAY CAUSE FLOODING OF STREETS AND OTHER LOW AREAS AS RAIN HAS BEEN FALLING THERE FOR OVER AN HOUR. THESE WERE PART OF A LARGE AREA OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT EXTENDED SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KIRBYVILLE TEXAS TO LEESVILLE LOUISIANA TO ALEXANDRIA AND EXTENDED SOUTH TO DEQUINCY...JENNINGS...WHITE LAKE AND NEW IBERIA. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE SHOWN NEAR BEAUMONT AND LIBERTY TEXAS AND FROM [BATON ROUGE SOUTHEAST TO THE COAST EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF MORGAN CITY.
Special weather statement, Jul 16, 4:38 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 435 PM CDT SAT JUL 16 1988 AT 425 PM...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE SHOWN OVER WESTERN CALCASIEU AND SOUTHERN BEAUREGARD PARISHES OF SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CAUSE FLOODING OF STREETS AND OTHER LOW AREAS OVER WESTERN CALCASIEU AND SOUTHERN BEAUREGARD PARISHES AS THEY SHOWED NO MOVEMENT. THESE WERE PART OF A LARGE AREA OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT EXTENDED FROM LIBERTY TEXAS TO MANSFIELD TO NORTHEAST OF BATON ROUGE AND TO SOUTH OF BATON ROUGE.
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.