Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 54, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 27, 1997, 7:07 AM CDT for Iberia Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 23 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 27, 1997, 7:07 AM CDT (12:07 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 27, 1997, 7:30 AM CDT
- In force
- 23 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Iberia Parish, LA
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:08 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 7:10 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | New Iberia, LA |
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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 4:15 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 147 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 24 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -230 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 494 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 66 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 17 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 122 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.9
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
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, 4 hours 32 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 2:35 AM CDT, 4 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
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, 5:07 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Acadia | 38 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, 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.