Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 27, 1997Acadia Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 27, 1997, 5:07 AM CDT for Acadia Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 38 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 27, 1997, 5:07 AM CDT (10:07 UTC)
Expired: Apr 27, 1997, 5:45 AM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Acadia Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:08 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 00:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 78 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: 73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -281 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 600 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 139 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

825 
WUUS1 KLCH 271008 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC001-271045-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
507 AM CDT SUN APR 27 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...ACADIA PARISH
 
AT 507 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CROWLEY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30
MILES AN HOUR. THE COMMUNITIES OF CROWLEY...RAYNE...AND CHURCH POINT
ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD
PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING.  PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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 27, 2:35 AM CDT, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 2:35 AM CDT, 2 hours 32 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
235 AM CDT SUN APR 27 1997

TWO AREAS OF CONCERN THIS MORNING...ELVTD CNVTN OVR S AND E CEN LA
AND CNVTN DVLPG ALONG INVERTED TROF OVR EAST TX. STRONG LLJ 30 TO
40 KT OVRNG LOW-LVL EASTERLY FLOW PROVIDING GOOD ISENTROPIC LIFT.
HWVR...WITH APPCHG 85H TROF BEST LOW-LVL FORCING WL SHIFT TO THE
EAST BY DAYBREAK. ACTIVITY DVLPG OVR EAST TX WILL BE WORKING INTO
A SVRLY CAPPED ENVIRONMENT. THE BIG QUESTION IS WHETHER LFQ AND
S/W ENERGY CAN PROVIDE ENUF SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT TO CHANGE THERMO
PROFILE.

MDLS MUCH MORE PROGRESSIVE THIS GO AROUND AS SRN STREAM UPPR
LOWS PHASES WITH NRN STREAM AND EJECTS OUT INTO TN VLY IN
48H. BEST DYNAMICS APPR TO BE LATE THIS AFT AND EVE AS VORT MAX
ROTATES THRU WITH GOOD UPPR DVRG AND PTNL LFQ OF SUB TROP JET.
HWVR...LOW-LVL FORCING WL BE NIL WITH SFC FNT OVR SE LA AND 85H
AND 70H LLJ EAST OF FA. MDL TIME SXNS INDICATE OVRNG MSTR TO 700
MB WITH STRONG MID-LVL COOLING WITH 50H TEMPS BTWN -13 AND -14 BY
24H. BLV ENUF UPPR FORCING TO PRODUCE SOME ELVTD CNVCTN...MAINLY
OVR LA ZNS WITH PSSBL ISLTD STRONG OVR E AND S CEN LA.

AS FOR THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH...SUGG DRPG AS HIGH PWS/THETA-E AXIS
SHIFT EAST OF RGN AND LOW-LVL STORM INFLOW WEAKENS CONSIDERABLY.

PREFER FAN GUID OVR SW LA/SE TX ZNS AND THE FWCS OVR E AND S CEN
LA PER FNTL MVMT.

CFW CAN BE DROPPED AS WINDS WL SHIFT TO THE NW THIS AM.
5

BPT 70/56/67 453
LCH 70/56/67 453

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 26, 11:46 PM CDT, 5 hours 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1143 PM CDT SUN APR 27 1997

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

1140 PM    SCOTT                     LA   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/27/97   LAFAYETTE                      REPORTED BY
                                          LAFAYETTE SKYWARN.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 10:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vermilion	53 min
Apr 26, 10:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Saint Martin	49 min
Apr 26, 11:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Lafayette	54 min
Apr 27, 7:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia	23 min
Apr 27, 9:33 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Iberia	117 min
Apr 27, 11:50 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Iberia	6 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.