Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 5, 1997Rapides Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 5, 1997, 5:27 AM CST for Rapides Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 63 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: Apr 5, 1997, 5:27 AM CST (11:27 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 1997, 6:30 AM CST
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Rapides Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:29 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, 5:30 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Glenmora, LA
Apr 5, 5:38 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 53	(Esf)Esler Arpt Alxn, LA

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 5, 2:30 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 051129 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC079-051230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
527 AM CST SAT APR 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA
 
   ...RAPIDES PARISH
 
AT 525 AM CST...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM BALL TO GLENMORA MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. THE PRIMARY
THREAT FROM THESE STORMS IS WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH. THE
COMMUNITIES OF PINEVILLE...WOODWORTH...FOREST HILL AND ALEXANDRIA ARE
IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FORJ THE WARNED 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 Apr 5, 2:45 AM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 5, 2:45 AM CST, 2 hours 42 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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 5, 3:15 AM CST, 2 hours 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
315 AM CST SAT APR 05 1997

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

0240 AM    10 NW JASPER              TX   WIND DAMAGE
04/05/97   JASPER                         TREES DOWN

Local storm report, Apr 5, 3:22 AM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
315 AM CST SAT APR 05 1997

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

0240^ AM    10 NW JASPER              TX   WIND DAMAGE
04/05/97   JASPER                         TREES DOWN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 5, 2:10 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	St. Mary	35 min
Apr 5, 3:01 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	59 min
Apr 5, 3:01 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Beauregard, Vernon	59 min
Apr 5, 4:05 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Beauregard, Calcasieu	55 min
Apr 5, 6:38 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Lafayette, Saint Landry	52 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 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.