Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 16, 1989Nacogdoches County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1989, 9:14 AM CDT for Nacogdoches County, Texas. It was in force for 46 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 1989, 9:14 AM CDT (14:14 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1989, 10:00 AM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Nacogdoches 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

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), launched 12:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 82 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1311 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBPT 161414
TORBPT
TXC347-161500-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORT ARTHUR TX
914 AM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORT ARTHUR HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS
          ...NORTHERN NACOGDOCHES
 
AT 910 AM CDT RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NORTH OF APPLEBY. THE
TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 MPH...AND WILL MOVE NEAR CEDAR
POINT BY 930 AM CDT.
 
THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION.  PERSONS IN CEDAR POINT
SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
NNNN

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, May 16, 7:55 AM CDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before

TTAAOO KESF 161255
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALEXANDRIA LA
1255 PM CDT TUE MAY 16 1989

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 300PM
THIS AFTERNOON FOR RAPIDES GRANT AND LASALLE
PARISHES OF CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS SOME VERY STRONG WILL BE
MOVING ACROSS THE PARISHES FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
PERSONS IN CENTRAL SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE POSSIBILITY
OF SEVERE WEATHER WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS...AT 1255PM
RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS bHAD MOVED INTO RAPIDES AND GRANT
PARISHES MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 9:45 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Sabine, San Augustine	45 min
May 16, 12:12 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Nacogdoches	2 hr
May 16, 12:52 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	San Augustine	68 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes in 1989

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.