Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 20, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 5, 1997, 2:24 AM CST for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 51 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
- Apr 5, 1997, 2:24 AM CST (08:24 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 5, 1997, 3:15 AM CST
- In force
- 51 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 08:27 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 2:39 AM CST | Thunderstorm Wind | China, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 4, 10:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 8.4 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1185 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -76 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 530 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 267 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 316 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.8
- Supercell composite
- 8.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLCH 050826 RRA SVRLCH TXC245-351-361-241-050915- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 224 AM CST SAT APR 5 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 315 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...JEFFERSON COUNTY...NEWTON COUNTY...ORANGE COUNTY ...JASPER COUNTY AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS AT 220 AM CST...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM JASPER TO HIGH ISLAND MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THESE STORMS IS WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. CITIES IN THE PATH OF THIS LINE INCLUDE KIRBYVILLE... NEWTON...BUNA...BEAUMONT...ORANGE AND PORT ARTHUR. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUTT 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 Apr 5, 1:49 AM CST, 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 5, 1:49 AM CST, 35 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 245 AM CST SAT APR 5 1997 S PORTION OF THE LINE OF TSTMS CURRENTLY PULSING...AND WITH KLCH VWP SHOWING 65 KTS AT 2 KFT...SVR GUSTS A GOOD BET. AS FAR AS FORECAST IS CONCERNED...MODELS ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT. BOTH SHOW FA IN RR QUAD OF UPPER LEVEL JET AROUND 12Z. RAIN CHC WILL END ACROSS SE TX SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE AND BY MID-MORNING FOR LA FA. TOOK A BLEND OF GUID TEMPS. 1 BPT 79/57/81 3(EARLY)00 LCH 77/55/80 6(EARLY)00 LFT 77/55/81 8(AM)00 AEX 77/52/80 8(AM)00
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 5, 2:24 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Jasper, Newton, Orange | 51 min |
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.