Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 35, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 25, 1997Hardin County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1997, 4:29 PM CDT for Hardin County, Texas. It was in force for 46 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 25, 1997, 4:29 PM CDT (21:29 UTC)
Expired
Apr 25, 1997, 5:15 PM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Hardin County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:32 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 25, 4:35 PM CDTHail 0.75Lumberton, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 25, 2:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 117 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.

156 
WUUS1 KLCH 252132 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC199-252215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
429 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...HARDIN COUNTY
 
AT 425 PM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
5 MILES SOUTH OF LUMBERTON MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF
LUMBERTON AND SILSBEE ARE IN THE PATH OIF THIS STORM. LARGE HAIL CAN BE
EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
 
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 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 25, 2:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 2:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
230 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

SFC PLOT SHOWS QUASI-STATIONARY FRONT OVER NORTHERN GULF.
TSRA FIRING UP ALONG FRONT AND MOVING N INTO CWA COASTAL WATERS.
SAT PICS SHOW SHORTWAVES RIPPLING ACROSS CENTRAL TEXAS...HEADED
FOR SE TX AND LA. 88-D ACTIVE WITH NUMEROUS TSRA OVER SE TX
AND OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. ETA SEEMS TO BE THE MODEL OF
CHOICE WITH 50H LOW DIGGING S INTO N MEXICO. SEVERAL PERTURBATIONS
RIPPLE OUT INTO SE TX AND LA THRU PD. SFC LOW SHOULD DEVELOP
WITH WARM FRONT MOVING INTO UPPER TX COAST AND COASTAL LA
BY SAT. MORNING. CONDITIONS COMING TOGETHER FOR HVY RAINFALL
OVER SE TX AND SW LA TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY POSSIBLY SHIFTING
EASTWARD SAT. NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. FOCUSING MECHANISM(WARM FRONT)...
PWS AT 1.6 TO 1.8...THETA-E RIDGE AT 335 TO 340...LIS AT -4 TO -6...
LLJ AT 40KTS...SHORTWAVES RIPPLING ACROSS CWA...VVS AT -10 TO -13.

WITH ALL THIS IN MIND...WOULD LIKE A FFA TO BE ISSUED FOR SE TX
LCH CWA. AS FAR AS COASTAL AREAS...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH MAY NEED
TO BE ISSUED FOR SW LA COASTAL WATERS...ESPECIALLY IF WINDS
BECOME MORE SELY. WILL KEEP COASTAL FLOOD WARNING AT LEAST
THROUGH 600 PM...MAY NEED TO BE EXTENDED AS WINDS ARE EXPECTED
TO BECOME SE. CAMERON TIDE GAUGE NOW RUNNING AT 3.0 FEET...SABINE
PASS TIDE GAUGE AT 3.1 FEET.

OVERALL...WENT SOMEWHAT COOLER ON MOS TEMPS DUE TO CLD COVER
AND RAINFALL. HERE ARE THE NUMBERS...

13

BPT 63/73/66/75 8887
LCH 63/72/66/75 8877  LFT 63/73/65/74 7777  AEX 60/72/63/71 8877

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.