Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 40, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 25, 1997Orange County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1997, 9:11 PM CDT for Orange County, Texas. It was in force for 64 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, 9:11 PM CDT (02:11 UTC)
Expired
Apr 25, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Orange County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:13 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, 9:30 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 56West Orange, 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, 8:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 67 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 00:00Z on 1997-04-26Temperature 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 00:00Z on 1997-04-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 366 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
501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
366 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
631 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 260213 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC361-260315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
911 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...ORANGE COUNTY
 
AT 910 AM...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST
SOUTH OF BRIDGE CITY...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. PERSONS IN BRIDGE
CITY AND ORANGE ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY 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
DON'T 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, 7:51 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 25, 7:51 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
745 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

SPC JUST ISSUED SVR TSTM WATCH FOR LCH CWA...AND NEW WILL BE ISSUIN6G
FFA FOR LCH CWA THIS EVENING. MAIN THREAT SEEMS TO BE HEAVY RAIN
RIGHT NOW...WITH A FEW PULSE SVR TSTMS DROPPING A LOT OF LIGHTNING
AND PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL. 15

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 25, 4:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 29 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, 3 hours 51 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, 3 hours 49 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, 3 hours 31 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, 3 hours 28 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, 8:54 PM CDT, 17 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
854 PM CDT FRI APR 25 1997

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

850 PM     MORSE                     LA   WIND DAMAGE
04/25/97   ACADIA                         REPORTED BY SHERIFF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 11:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHJasper66 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.