Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 63, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 30, 1997Tyler County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 30, 1997, 10:51 PM CDT for Tyler County, Texas. It was in force for 69 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 30, 1997, 10:51 PM CDT (03:51 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1997, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 69 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Tyler County, TX

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 30, 11:59 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Colmesneil, TX	Severe thunderstorm winds blew trees down from Colmesnelle to Doucette and Hillister.

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, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 1565 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 976 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -8 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.

174 
WUUS1 KLCH 310354 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC457-310500-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1051 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...TYLER COUNTY
 
AT 1050 PM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM LOCATED 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHESTER MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THE COMMUNITIES OF CHESTER...WOODVILLE
AND WARREN ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. WIND GUSTS IN
EXCESS OF 55 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED EITH 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 30, 8:20 PM CDT, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 8:20 PM CDT, 2 hours 31 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
820 PM CDT FRI MAY 30 1997

SFC ANALYSIS PLACES FRNT FROM EXTREME NE TX TO JUST NW OF ACT.
STRG AND SVR TSTMS OCCURRING ALONG FRONT AND MOVG SE. CONVECTION
ALSO DEVELOPING ACROSS UPPER PORTIONS OF SE TX AND IN CEN LA. XPECT
FRNT TO SLOW SLIGHTLY...BUT CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE
CURRENT MOVEMENT. LCH 00Z SOUNDING IS UNSTABLE WITH LI AT -5...ALSO
DRY AT MID LEVELS. THIS SUGGESTS SVR TSTMS POSSIBLE LATER TONIGHT
AS FRNT APPROACHES WITH THREAT OF HAIL AND WIND GUSTS. WOULD LIKE
POSSIBLY SVR TO BE ADDED IN SW AND SC LA ZONES AND POPS RAISED TO
60 PERCENT FOR S SECTIONS OF LA AND SE TX.

1

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin	51 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 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.