Alert archive / Louisiana / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS Lake Charles, LA

June 18, 1997Saint Martin Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 1997, 11:32 AM CDT for Saint Martin Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jun 18, 1997, 11:32 AM CDT (16:32 UTC)
Expired: Jun 18, 1997, 3:00 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Saint Martin Parish, LA

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 153 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: 544 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 817 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.1
Supercell composite: -2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 181635
FFWLCH
LAC099-182000-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1132 AM CDT WED JUN 18 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA
 
   ...LOWER ST. MARTIN PARISH
 
AT 1130 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED LIGHT TO
MODERATE RAIN CONTINUING OVER LOWER ST MARTIN PARISH. THIS ACTIVITY
SHOULD CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS. RAINFALL RATES WILL GENERALLY BE
LESS THAN 1/4 INCH PER HOUR.
 
BECAUSE OF THE PREVIOUS RAINFALL ACROSS THE AREA...THE WATER LEVELS
ACROSS LOWER ST MARTIN PARISH WILL BE SLOW TO RECEDE.  ANY ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL WOULD FUTHUR AGGREVATE THE SITUATION.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT HIN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 flash flood warning went out at Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 9:30 AM CDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
930 AM CDT WED JUN 18 1997

CONVECTION CONTINUING THIS MORNING ALONG THE NEAR COASTAL WATERS...
TRAINING OVER SC LA.  LOWER ST MARTIN AND ST MARY PARISH 88D PRECIP
ESTIMATES OVER 10 INCHES LAST 24 HOURS.  FFW ISSUED UNTIL 1145
CDT FOR THOSE PARISHES. CONTINUE FFA FOR SOUTHCENTRAL ZONES.
FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK.

12

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 18, 5:38 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Martin, St. Mary	2 hr
Jun 18, 7:37 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Martin, St. Mary	4 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Louisiana, 1997 Every flash flood warning in 1997

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.