Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Lake Charles, LA

November 24, 1996Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Nov 24, 1996, 5:19 PM CST for Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 26 min. 1 report 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: Nov 24, 1996, 5:19 PM CST (23:19 UTC)
Expired: Nov 24, 1996, 5:45 PM CST
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Jefferson Davis Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:23 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Nov 24, 5:20 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Lacassine, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 41 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: 1304 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 242322 RRA
TORLCH
LAC053-242345-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
519 PM CST SUN NOV 24 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...JEFFERSON DAVIS PARISH
 
AT 518 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A
POSSIBLE TORNADO 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF IOWA. MOVEMENT WAS TO
THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THE CITY OF FENTON IS
IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR
ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS
...OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

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.

NWS Lake Charles, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Nov 24, 2:47 PM CST, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 24, 2:47 PM CST, 2 hours 32 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
230 AM CST SUN NOV 24 1996

SFC COLD FRONT CURRENTLY EXTENDING FROM NEAR SHV-BPT AND EXTENDING
OFF THE SE TX COAST. SFC LOW CURRENTLY NEAR BPT WILL TRAK NE TO
NR MLU BY 12Z MON. EXPECT FROPA AT BPT AT 23Z...LCH 01Z
AEX 03Z...LFT 04Z. AMS CONTINUES TO MODERATELY UNSTABLE ACROSS
THE FA THIS AFTERNOON WITH LI AROUND -4. WOULD EXPECT SOME
SVR WX ACRS SW AND CEN LA THIS EVENING. SE TX WILL SE
RA AND MAYBE SOME TSRA. AFTER FROPA TEMPS WILL DROP
RAPIDLY WITH SOME OVERRUNNING PRECIP.
                                           10
WL GO IN LINE WITH THE COOLER FAN TEMPS.

LCH 45/50/36/52 7200
LFT 47/51/36/52 7200
AEX 44/49/34/50 7300
BPT 44/50/37/52 7200

In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 24, 2:42 PM CST, 2 hours 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
242 PM CST SUN NOV 24 1996

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1244 PM    WILDWOOD                  TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
11/24/96   HARDIN

Local storm report, Nov 24, 2:47 PM CST, 2 hours 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
242 PM CST SUN NOV 24 1996

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1244 PM    WILDWOOD                  TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
11/24/96   HARDIN

Local storm report, Nov 24, 4:48 PM CST, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
448 PM CST SUN NOV 24 1996

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

345 PM     WIERGATE                  TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
11/24/96   NEWTON

Local storm report, Nov 24, 4:50 PM CST, 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
448 PM CST SUN NOV 24 1996

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

345 hPM     WIERGATE                  TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
11/24/96   NEWTON

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.