Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Lake Charles, LA

January 27, 1997Newton County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 27, 1997, 3:31 PM CST for Newton County, Texas. It was in force for 59 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jan 27, 1997, 3:31 PM CST (21:31 UTC)
Expired
Jan 27, 1997, 4:30 PM CST
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Newton County, TX

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:31 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jan 27, 1:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 91 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 531 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-01-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 102 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
531 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
480 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

325 
WUUS1 KLCH 272132 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC351-272230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
331 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...NEWTON COUNTY
 
AT 325 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BON WIER.
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. LARGE HAIL AND GUSTS GREATER
THAN 55 MPH ARE INDICATED.
 
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD
PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING.  PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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 Jan 27, 1:39 PM CST, 1 hour 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 1:39 PM CST, 1 hour 52 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
139 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997

EXTRAP ON CD FNT AND ETA PUTS FNT INTO SE TX AND CEN LA ARND 04Z...
SW LA ARND 06Z...S CEN LA ARND 08Z. A 20 DEG DROP IS TYPICAL BEHIND
THIS STG CD FNT. ETA PUTS AREA IN RIGHT REAR QUAD TNITE WITH BEST
UPR DYNAMICS FOR SVR ARND DAYBREAK TO NOON ON TUES...HOWEVER STG
CD FNT APCHNG THIS EVENING AND CLIMO PUTS THE AREA UNDER THE GUN
STARTING LATE THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE LAKES AREA OF SE TX. MOS
LKS REASONABLE. 88-DS AT POE AND LCH PICKING UP SMALL HAIL
INDICATIONS IN CEN LA WITH SCATTERED TSTMS. AS VAD PROFILES ARE
UNIDIRECTIONAL...EXPECT MAIN THREAT TO BE LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS
TNITE. SHUD BE ABLE TO CLEAR SVR AREA AS FRONT MOVES THRU TNITE.
11

BPT 46/47/40/47 7735
LCH 47/47/40/48 7745  LFT 49/49/43/49 6846  AEX 46/46/36/45 8635

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.