Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 90, NWS Lake Charles, LA

August 30, 1990Rapides Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 30, 1990, 4:26 PM CDT for Rapides Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 64 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Aug 30, 1990, 4:26 PM CDT (21:26 UTC)
Expired: Aug 30, 1990, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Rapides Parish, LA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 30, 4:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Rapides, LA
Aug 30, 5:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Rapides, LA

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 1788 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -68 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 969 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 36 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 KLCH 302130 COR
SVRLCH
LAC079-302230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTION FOR TIME OF DETECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
426 PM CDT THU AUG 30 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA

   ...RAPIDES PARISH

AT 425 PM CDT...THE LAKE CHARLES WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTH PART OF RAPIDES PARISH...OR
FROM THE COLFAX AREA TO JUST EAST OF ALEXANDRIA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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, Aug 30, 3:38 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

LAZ005-006-007-008-011-012-302145-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
335 PM CDT THU AUG 30 1990

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM THIS THURSDAY EVENING
FOR ALL OF SOUTHWEST AND CENTRSL LOUISIANA.

AT 330 PM...THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAINS...WERE DEVELOPING
RATHER RAPIDLY OVER PORTIONS OF CENTRAL LOUISIANA..MAINLY IN LASALLE..
GRANT..AND RAPIDES PARISHES.

AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WITH HAIL INDICATED BY RADAR WAS SHOWN JUST EAST
OF ALEXANDRIA ..ABOUT 15 MILES NORTH OF MARKSVILLE MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTH
AT 25 MPH.

PERSONS IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA SHOULD BE ON THE ALERT IN THE EVENT OTHER
WEATHER DEVELOPMENTS OCCUR WERE A WARNING IS REQUIRED.

PERIODS OF VERY HEAVY RAINS...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LUGHTNING..
AND HAIL ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR WITH THE HEAVIER THUNDERSTORMS. ALSO
FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS IS LIKELY.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 30, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides, Vernon	59 min
Aug 30, 6:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard	56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.