Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 27, 1997, 8:26 PM CST for Hardin County, Texas. It was in force for 49 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
- Jan 27, 1997, 8:26 PM CST (02:26 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 27, 1997, 9:15 PM CST
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Hardin County, TX
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 8:30 PM CST | Thunderstorm Wind | Sour Lake, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 7:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 117 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
- 1472 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 733 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 114 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 131 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 5.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLCH 280226 RRA SVRLCH TXC199-280315- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 826 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS ...HARDIN COUNTY AT 825 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES NORTH OF SARATOGA. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE COMMUNITY OF KOUNTZE BY 850 PM. 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 DON'T 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 Jan 27, 7:42 PM CST, 44 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 27, 7:42 PM CST, 44 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 740 PM CST MON JAN 27 1997 CLD FNT FM LFK TO CLL AND BEGINNING TO PICKUP IN FORWARD MOMENTUM. SAT PIX CONTS TO SHOW TSRA BACKBUILDING OVR THE HOU AREA WITH DIFFLUENT TKNS PATTERN. IN ADDTN A FEW CELLS HAVE SHOWN TORNADIC STRUCTURE EVEN THO UNDIRECTIONAL WIND PROFILE. LARGE CAPE/WEAKLY SHEARED ENVRIONMENT AND DRY MID LVLS WL BE CONDUCIVE FOR HAIL AND WIND DAMAGE UP TO FNTL PASG. USING EXTRAPOLATION WL BRING FNT INTO BPT AT 04Z...LCH/AEX 05Z...AND LFT 07Z. XPCT MAINLY RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH UPPR TROF LAGGING BACK OVR CNTRL TX. WL ALSO NEED TO WATCH FOR FFW POTENTIAL WITH FFG AOB 2.0 INCHES. 5
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 27, 8:11 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Jasper | 34 min |
| Jan 27, 8:31 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | LCH | Hardin | 3 hr |
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.