Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 74, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 14, 1997, 3:53 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 52 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
- Jul 14, 1997, 3:53 PM CDT (20:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 14, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 52 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Jefferson County, TX
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:52 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 14, 4:05 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Port Arthur, TX |
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 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 96 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
- 3168 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 599 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 21 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
165 WUUS1 KLCH 142055 RRA SVRLCH TXC245-142145- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 353 PM CDT MON JUL 14 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...JEFFERSON COUNTY AT 350 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM NEAR MAURICEVILLE TO PORT ARTHUR. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHWEST AT 20 MPH. THE CITIES OF PORT NECHES AND BEAUMONT ARE IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STO SWILL BE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DONT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
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 Jul 14, 2:10 PM CDT, 1 hour 43 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 14, 2:10 PM CDT, 1 hour 43 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 210 PM CDT MON JUL 14 1997 NUMEROUS SHWRS AND TSTMS OCCURRING OFFSHORE ASSOCIATED WITH VORT MAX. TSTMS CURRENTLY DEVELOPING ALONG SFC TROF THIS AFT WHICH EXTENDS FROM SE ARK TO SW LA. TSTMS ARE MOVG S-SW WITH N-NE MID LEVEL FLOW. NOT A WHOLE LOT TO CHANGE DURING THE FORECAST PD. AXIS OF MID LEVEL POS VORT TO REMAIN ALONG S SECTIONS OF FA THRU PD. THIS COUPLED WITH HIGH PW 1.8-2.0 WILL ALLOW FOR SCT AFT ACTIVITY THRU PD. WUD LIKE TO INCLUDE WIDELY SCT POPS FOR CEN AND SW LA TONIGHT DUE TO CURRENT RADAR TRENDS AND POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT N OF AREA THAT PROPAGATES INTO FA. WUD LIKE 30 PERCENT FOR SE TX AS ETA FORECASTS PRECIP TONIGHT ACROSS SE TX HAVING ORIGINATED IN LA. TEMPS WILL BE CLOSE TO PERSISTENCE. NO DOMINANT FEATURE TO FORCE SURFACE WINDS TOMORROW...HOWEVER WK PRESSURE GRADIENT SUPPORTS LIGHT N-NW WIND ACROSS WESTERN PORTIONS OF FA AND N-NE ACROSS EASTERN PORTIONS. 1 BPT 74/95/74/95 3413 LCH 74/94/74/94 2413 LFT 74/95/74/95 1413 AEX 71/94/71/94 2413
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.