Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 90, NWS Lake Charles, LA

August 22, 1997Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 22, 1997, 5:23 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 67 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
Aug 22, 1997, 5:23 PM CDT (22:23 UTC)
Expired
Aug 22, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
67 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 22:22 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 22, 5:25 PM CDTThunderstorm WindGroves, 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, 10.4 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1535 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 1997-08-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 63 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
1535 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
959 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 222224 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC245-222330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
523 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
 
AT 521 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 15 MPH INTO EASTERN PORTIONS OF
JEFFERSON COUNTY. THIS LINE WILL BE CAPABLE OF WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF
55 MPH AND AFFECT THE COMMUNITIES OF PORT ARTHUR...BEAUMONT...NEDERLAND
AND GROVES.
 
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 Aug 22, 2:49 PM CDT, 2 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 2:49 PM CDT, 2 hours 34 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
242 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 1997

SQUALL LINE CONTINUING TO MOVE SE ARND 30 KTS...ABOUT TO ENTER
NRN PTNS OF FA. HAVE BEEN SEVERAL REPORTS OF GUSTS OVER 55 KNOTS
AND A FEW SVR HAIL REPORTS WITH THESE STORMS. XPCT THIS LINE OF
STORMS TO CONTINUE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA DURING THE EVENING
HOURS AND PUSH ON INTO THE GULF. CHC FOR SVR WX SHUD CONTINUE...
THO UPPER DYNAMICS APPEARS TO BE TRYING TO PULL AWAY FROM THE
ACTIVITY IN A MORE ELY DIRECTION. MODELS SHEAR ANOTHER S/W ACROSS
THE AREA TMRW...BUT AFTER THIS ACTIVITY CLEARS THE AREA TONITE...
BELIEVE AMS WILL NOT SUPPORT THE POPS GIVEN BY GDNC. TEMPS NEARER
FWC THAN FAN. 8

BPT 72/91/71/92 6201
LCH 71/91/70/91 6201  LFT 70/90/69/91 5201  AEX 67/88/67/89 5000

TX ZONES...

LA ZONES...

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 22, 3:43 PM CDT, 1 hour 40 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
343 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

305 PM     6 N BURKEVILLE            TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/22/97   NEWTON                         TREE DOWN ON HWY 692

305 PM     10 S LEESVILLE            LA   WIND DAMAGE
08/22/97   VERNON                         SEVERAL TREES DOWN OVER MUCH
                                          OF THE PARISH
Local storm report, Aug 22, 3:59 PM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
343 PM CDT FRI AUG 22 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

305 PM     6 N BURKEVILLE            TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/22/97   NEWTON                         TREE DOWN ON HWY 692

305 PM     10 S LEESVILLE            LA   WIND DAMAGE
08/22/97   VERNON   t                      SEVERAL TREES DOWN OVER MUCH
                                          OF THE PARISH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 22, 2:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHNewton64 min

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.