Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 60, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 28, 1997Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 28, 1997, 12:03 AM CDT for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 57 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 28, 1997, 12:03 AM CDT (05:03 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:04 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	Leesville, LA	Severe thunderstorms moved into Vernon Parish from northeast Texas, resulting in 70 mph winds, and causing considerable damage to a department store in Leesville. The high winds blew down one wall of the department store, and the store's inventory of electrica

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, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 110 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

421 
WUUS1 KLCH 280459 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC115-280600-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1203 AM CDT WED MAY 28 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 SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...VERNON PARISH
 
AT 1157 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES
WEST OF LEESVILLE. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 15 MPH. THE COMMUNITY OF
LEESVILLE IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS
ARE LIKELY WITH 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
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 27, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 18 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

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 1:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Cameron	69 min
May 28, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia, Saint Martin	45 min
May 28, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Cameron	59 min

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.