Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Lake Charles, LA

November 30, 1996Jasper County, Tyler County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Nov 30, 1996, 12:53 PM CST for Jasper County, Tyler County, Texas. It was in force for 67 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: Nov 30, 1996, 12:53 PM CST (18:53 UTC)
Expired: Nov 30, 1996, 2:00 PM CST
In force: 67 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Jasper County, TX, Tyler County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:52 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 30, 1:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Spurger, TX
Nov 30, 1:15 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Jasper, TX

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, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 119 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: 737 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 564 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 143 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 301856
TORLCH
TXC241-457-302000-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1253 PM CST SAT NOV 30 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...JASPER COUNTY...TYLER COUNTY
 
AT 1252 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
DEVELOPING TORNADO IN EASTERN TYLER COUNTY...10 MILES EAST OF
WOODVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. PERSONS IN THE COMMUNITY OF
JASPER ARE 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 30, 9:37 AM CST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 30, 9:37 AM CST, 3 hours 16 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
930 AM CST SAT NOV 30 1996

STRONG LOW-LVL WINDS INTERSECTING STNRY FNT TRIGGERING SHRA/TSRA OVR
NE TX/NW LA THIS AM. S/W EMBEDDED IN SW FLOW ALOFT...PICKED UP NICELY
BY NGM (00Z)...ENHANCING LIFT IN THIS REGION WITH MID-LVL COOLING.

INCRSD LOW-LVL MSTR COUPLED WITH MID-LVL COOLING HAS RESULTED IN
LOW LI/S (ADAP CHARTS) AND SOME DESTABILIZATION IN THE FA. HWVR...
WARM SOUTHWEST WINDS ALOFT HAVE RESULTED IN A STABLE LYR FM 850 TO
650 MB. BOTH THE 80A AND 70A INDICATE THAT FRTHR WARMING PSSBL AS
WINDS BCM MORE SW WITH TIME AHD OF TROF. A QUICK LOOK AT 12Z ETA
ALSO SUPPORTS THAT ANY SYNOPTIC LIFT TO COOL THERMO PROFILE ARRIVES
AFTER THE FACT WITH THE BRUNT OF THE ENERGY TRACKING NORTH AND WEST.
STILL...ENUF LOW-LVL LIFT TO PROVIDE LINE OF SHRA/TSRA...BUT HAVE LOW
CONFIDENCE WITH SVR PTNL AND HVY RNFL. BLV HVY RNFL WL BE EAST OF
LFT. KHGX RADAR ALREADY SHOWING LINE DVLPG ALONG CLD FNT FM VCT TO
CLL. CLL OB AT 1451Z 30020G30KT.

BASED ON CURRENT TRENDS SUGGEST UPING POPS IN UPPR SE TX TO LKLY OR
CAT.

5

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.