Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 111, NWS Lake Charles, LA

December 7, 1997Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Dec 7, 1997, 9:12 PM CST for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 48 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Dec 7, 1997, 9:12 PM CST (03:12 UTC)
Expired
Dec 7, 1997, 10:00 PM CST
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:15 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 96 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1997-12-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1997-12-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 356 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1270 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
356 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
565 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 080313
SVRLCH
TXC245-080400-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
912 PM CST SUN DEC 7 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
 
AT 910 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A BAND
OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM WINNIE TO 10 MILES WEST OF HIGH ISLAND.
THESE SEVERE STORMS ARE MOVING TO THE EAST AT 45 MPH AND WILL REACH
THE HAMSHIRE AREA BY 915 PM AND PORT ARTHUR BY 930 PM. RESIDENTS
SHOULD PREPARE FOR HIGH WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...LARGE HAIL...
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.
 
THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF KNOCKING DOWN POWER LINES.
 
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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 Dec 7, 8:39 PM CST, 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 7, 8:39 PM CST, 33 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
838 PM CST SUN DEC 7 1997

SFC LO NOW VCTY CRP W/ WRM FRNT XTNDG ALONG SE TX CST. POTENTIAL
FOR SOME SVR DVLPMT AS PER SPC DISCUSSION. SVR STORMS IN HOU CWA
APPCHG WRN EDGE OF FA. CAN ADD SVR WORDING TO COASTAL ZONES.8

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Dec 7, 8:36 PM CST, 36 minutes before
TXZ180>182-201-215-216-080500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
830 PM CST SUN DEC 7 1997

...INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING TOWARDS SOUTHEAST TEXAS...

AT 835 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY
STRONG THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN THE HOUSTON AREA. THESE STORMS
ARE MOVING RAPIDLY TO THE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. BY 900 PM...THEY
SHOULD BE ENTERING THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF HARDIN AND JEFFERSON
COUNTIES FROM BATSON TO HAMSHIRE AND REACH THE SOUR LAKE AREA BY
920 PM AND THE BEAUMONT AREA BY 930 PM.

THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WIND GUSTS TO 40
MPH...MARBLE SIZE HAIL...BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING.

RESIDENTS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO
OR LOCAL RADIO AND TV FOR UPDATES ON THIS DEVELOPING STORM SYSTEM.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 1997Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.