Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 100, NWS Lake Charles, LA

October 23, 1997Tyler County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 23, 1997, 6:36 PM CDT for Tyler County, Texas. It was in force for 54 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: Oct 23, 1997, 6:36 PM CDT (23:36 UTC)
Expired: Oct 23, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Tyler County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:36 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
Oct 23, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Woodville, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 23, 2:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -174 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 232338 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC457-240030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
636 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...TYLER COUNTY
 
AT 635 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SERIES
OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
THE COMMUNITIES OF WOODVILLE...HILLISTER...AND WARREN ARE IN THE PATH OF
THIS STORM.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE
EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARbNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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.

NWS Lake Charles, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 23, 1:45 PM CDT, 4 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 23, 1:45 PM CDT, 4 hours 51 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
145 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

STILL WAITING TO SEE IF SEVERE WEATHER WILL DEVELOP LATER THIS AFTN/EVE
ALONG COAST. GOOD INSTABILITY AND HELICITY STILL POINTS TO POSSIBLE
SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT...SO STILL NEED TO KEEP SVR IN WORDING FOR 1ST
PERIOD OF ZONES.

AFTER PRECIP LATE TONIGHT...EXPECT A MILD WX DAY FOR FRIDAY. HARD TO
BELIEVE TEMPS WILL ACTUALLY MAKE IT TO THE MID 80S...BUT TEMPS TO 80
SEEM POSSIBLE.

AS FOR RAIN CHANCES PAST TONIGHT...DONT BELIEVE WELL HAVE ALL THE
INGREDIENTS IN PLACE SATURDAY...SO ID RATHER HAVE LOWER POPS.  15

BPT 68/80/68/82 6112
LCH 66/80/68/82 6112    LFT 67/80/68/82 6311     AEX 63/78/65/80 6112

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 23, 6:20 PM CDT, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
620 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

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

545 PM     WARREN                    TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
10/23/97   TYLER                          RPT BY SHERIFF DEPT

ERICKSON

Local storm report, Oct 23, 6:22 PM CDT, 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
620 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

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

545 $PM     WARREN                    TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
10/23/97   TYLER                          RPT BY SHERIFF DEPT

ERICKSON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 23, 11:47 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin	58 min
Oct 23, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Tyler	45 min
Oct 23, 6:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Tyler	54 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.