Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 25, 1997Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1997, 8:48 AM CDT for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 42 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
Apr 25, 1997, 8:48 AM CDT (13:48 UTC)
Expired
Apr 25, 1997, 9:30 AM CDT
In force
42 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:51 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 12:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 110 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 12:00Z on 1997-04-25Temperature 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 12:00Z on 1997-04-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 131 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
1388 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
472 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

566 
WUUS1 KLCH 251359 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC115-251430-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
848 AM CDT FRI APR 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...VERNON PARISH
 
AT 845 AM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5
MILES SOUTHWEST OF PITKIN MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THE TOWN OF PITKIN
IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THIS STORM IS LARGE
HAIL IN EXCESS OF 3/4 OF AN INCH.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT 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 Apr 25, 2:57 AM CDT, 5 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 2:57 AM CDT, 5 hours 51 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
255 AM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

INTERACTION OF LOW-LVL JET AND STRONG ERLY FLOW AT THE SFC PRDCG
ELVTD CNVTN ACROSS THE GULF WATERS THIS AM. ACTIVITY WL MAINLY
AFFECT CSTL ZNS WITH MOIST AXIS RESIDING ACROSS SRN LA AND SE TX.
S/W ENERGY FCST TO TRACK ACROSS RGN LATER THIS MORNING SHUD ENHANCE
ACTIVITY WITH SHRA/TSRA BCMG MORE NUMEROUS.

MDL OF CHOICE STILL RESIDES WITH ETA AS NGM CONTINUES TO LIFT THE
UPPR LOW TO THE NE TOO QUICKLY. NGM ALSO NOTORIOUSLY BAD AT HANDLING
OF LOW-LVL MSTR RETURN AS IS NOTED WITH THE 00Z RUN. ETA APPRS TO
HAVE A MUCH BETTER HANDLE ON GRIDDED MSTR FIELDS AND QPF. BEST SHOT
FOR RAIN WL COME OVRNITE INTO SAT AS WARM FRONT PUSHES NRD. ETA
PLACES 45 KT LOW-LVL JET OVR SE TX/SW LA SAT MRNG WITH PWS OF 1.8
INCHES. THIS SHUD SET UP THE PTNL FOR LCLY HVY RAINS WITH 1 TO 2
INCHES PSSBL ACROSS CWA.

AN UNSTABLE AIR MASS FOLLOWING THE WF PASSAGE WILL COMBINE WITH FVRBL
UPPR DYNAMICS AND GOOD THKNS DIFFLUENCE TO SUPPORT BACKBUILDING TSRA
SAT NITE INTO SUN WITH THE PTNL FOR LCLY HVY RAINS.

WL GO WITH A MOSTLY CLOUDY FCST TDY AND CLOUY TNITE AND SAT. WL
BUMP MOS TEMPS UP TNITE AND SAT WITH CLD CVR...STRONG WINDS...AND
WF PASG.

5

BPT 76/66/76 546
LCH 76/66/76 546

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 4:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHCalcasieu, Cameron69 min
Apr 25, 5:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHBeauregard58 min
Apr 25, 5:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHCalcasieu57 min
Apr 25, 6:24 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLCHCalcasieu3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 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.