Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 76, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 23, 1997, 5:47 PM CDT for Allen Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 58 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 23, 1997, 5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 23, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 58 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Allen Parish, LA
The radar
The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:46 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 23, 6:02 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Kinder, LA |
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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 69 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
- 2774 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -24 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 805 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 7 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 21 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLCH 232248 RRA SVRLCH LAC003-232345- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 547 PM CDT WED JUL 23 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA ALLEN PARISH AT 545 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES NORTHEAST OF KINDER. THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 20 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE KINDER AREA BY 600 PM. 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 Jul 23, 2:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 2:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 200 PM CDT WED JUL 23 1997 SCT TSTMS OCCURRING ACROSS CEN LA AND A DYING TSTM COMPLEX OFF THE SC LA COAST THIS AFTERNOON. MODELS DIFFER ON RAIN CHCS PARTICULARLY THIS EVENING AND TOMORROW. ETA DRIER THAN NGM...AND APPEARS AVN POPS IN BETWEEN. MAIN FEATURES DURING THE PD ARE TROPICAL WV OVR E GULF MOVING W...SFC TROF LOCATED ACROSS E TX...N LA AND N MISS...AND A WK UPPER LOW OVR NE TX MOVING SW. SFC TROF IS ACTING TO FOCUS TSTMS N OF AREA WHERE TEMPS HAVE RISEN INTO THE MID 90S. ATTM NOT MUCH CONVECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE TROPICAL WV...HARD TO TELL HOW MUCH THIS FEATURE WILL ENHANCE RAIN CHCS. NGM VVEL ARE OVERDONE DURING 18-30 HR TIME SO WILL ABANDON MOS POPS. WITH DEEP SE FLOW OFF OF GULF PROGGED TO DEVELOP AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE IN PLACE...BELIEVE A SLIGHT INCREASE IN POPS IS WARRANTED. HAVE TRENDED POPS TOWARDS MOST REASONABLE AVN SOLN. TEMPS LOOK TO BE CLOSE TO WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN. 1 BPT 78/95/78/95 2323 LCH 78/94/78/94 2323 LFT 78/94/78/94 2424 AEX 75/95/75/95 2424
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 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.