Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 55, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 3, 1997Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1997, 12:37 AM CDT for Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 53 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: May 3, 1997, 12:37 AM CDT (05:37 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1997, 1:30 AM CDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Saint Landry Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:38 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
May 3, 12:49 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Arnaudville, 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 126 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: 2551 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 532 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 4.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

624 
WUUS1 KLCH 030539
SVRLCH
LAC097-030630-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1237 AM CDT SAT MAY 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  130 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA
 
   ...ST. LANDRY PARISH
 
AT 1133 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES NORTH OF OPELOUSAS. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 30 MPH.
THE COMMUNITIES OF LEBEAU AND PALMETTO ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL.
 
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 May 2, 11:48 PM CDT, 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 2, 11:48 PM CDT, 49 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1148 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

AS THE LINE OF STRONG TSRA LIMPS INTO OUR CWA AND DEGENERATES...NEW
LINES ARE FORMING IN RAPIDES...AVOYELLES...AND ALLEN PARISHES. THESE
AREAS ARE JUST EAST OF WW 240...OF COURSE. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD CLEAR
SOUTHEAST TEXAS BY 1 AM...AND MOVE INTO NEW CWA BY 1 AM AND OFFSHORE
SW LA BY 4 AM. FRONT SEEMS TO BE LAGGING THESE STORMS BY ABOUT 100 NM
ACCORDING TO LATEST P22 PLOT AND SHOULD BE THROUGH A COUPLE HOURS
AFTER THE SHRA AND TSRA DEPART...SLOWER THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.
NO CHANGES NEEDED IN FIRST PERIOD THOUGH.

  14

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 3, 12:28 AM CDT, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1228 AM CDT SAT MAY 3 1997

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

1249 AM    ARNAUDVILLE               LA   WIND DAMAGE
05/03/97   SAINT LANDRY                   SEVERAL POWER POLES SNAPPED
                                          DUE TO STRONG THUNDERSTORM
                                          WINDS.

1249 AM    WHITEVILLE                LA   WIND DAMAGE
05/03/97   SAINT LANDRY                   SEVERAL POWER POLES SNAPPED
                                          DUE TO STRONG THUNDERSTORM
                                          WINDS. REPORTED BY POWER
                                          COMPANY.

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.