Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 25, 1997Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1997, 5:48 PM CDT for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 57 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, 5:48 PM CDT (22:48 UTC)
Expired: Apr 25, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Calcasieu Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:42 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 19 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: 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.

580 
WUUS1 KLCH 252249 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC019-252345-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
548 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...CALCASIEU PARISH
 
AT 545 PM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
5 MILES SOUTH OF LAKE CHARLES MOVING NORTH AT 35 MPH. VERY
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND LARGE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 18 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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 25, 4:40 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
440 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

435 PM     LUMBERRTON                TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   HARDIN                         REPORTED BY SHERIFF DEPT

Local storm report, Apr 25, 4:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
440 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

435 PM     LUMBERRTON                TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   HARDIN                         REPORTED BY SHERIFF DEPT

Local storm report, Apr 25, 5:20 PM CDT, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
520 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

515 PM     SULPHUR                   LA   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   CALCASIEU                      REPORTED BY SKYWARN SPOTTER

Local storm report, Apr 25, 5:22 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
520 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

515 ^PM     SULPHUR                   LA   0.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   CALCASIEU                      REPORTED BY SKYWARN SPOTTER

Local storm report, Apr 25, 5:40 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
540 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

535 PM     4 E DEQUINCY              LA   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   BEAUREGARD                     REPORTED BY CHANNEL 7 OBSERVER

Local storm report, Apr 25, 5:43 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
540 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

535 PM     4 E DEQUINCY              LA   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/25/97   BEAUREGARD                     REPORTED BY CHANNEL 7 OBSERVER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 25, 8:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	42 min
Apr 25, 4:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	69 min
Apr 25, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Beauregard	58 min
Apr 25, 6:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Calcasieu	3 hr

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.