Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1997, 11:50 PM CDT for Jasper County, Texas. It was in force for 70 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 27, 1997, 11:50 PM CDT (04:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 28, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 70 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Jasper County, TX
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:50 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 28, 12:30 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Jasper, TX | A few trees fell down on power lines during a severe thunderstorm. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 27, 7:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 105 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
- 3458 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 843 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 19 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
439 WUUS1 KLCH 280501 RRA SVRLCH TXC241-280600- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 1150 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 100 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...JASPER COUNTY AT 1159 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF JASPER. MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF JASPER AND KIRBYVILLE ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKLEY WITH THIS STORM. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
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 27, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 27, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 845 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997 OUTFLOW BNDRY DETECTED ON LCH 88D MOVG SRD AND WL ENTER NRN PART OF CWA SHORTLY. BIG QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT LOW-LVL FORCING WL BE SUFFICIENT TO BREAK STRONG CAP. ATMOS EXTREMELY UNSTABLE ABV CAP WITH 00Z SNDG INDICATING A STEEP LAPSE RATE FM 700 TO 500 MB AND A CAPE OF 3500 J/KG. WUD LIKE TO UP POPS ACROSS SW LA AND SE TX DUE TO FNT APPCHG LATE TNITE AND S/W NOTED IN WTR VPR OVR S TX. POPS...1ST PERIOD LCH 4 BPT 4 5
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.