Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 92, NWS Lake Charles, LA

August 31, 1997Lafayette Parish, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1997, 7:57 PM CDT for Lafayette Parish, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 63 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: Aug 31, 1997, 7:57 PM CDT (00:57 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lafayette Parish, LA, Vermilion Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:56 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 99 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 2342 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1414 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 010103 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC055-113-010200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
757 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA

      LAFAYETTE PARISH...VERMILION PARISH

AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS


AT 755 PM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM SCOTT IN LAFAYETTE PARISH TO ERATH IN VERMILION
PARISH. THIS LINE IS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 15 MPH AND WILL LIKELY
PRODUCE ONE INCH DIAMETER HAIL. ABBEVILLE AND DUSON ARE IN THE PATH
OF THIS LINE.

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 Aug 31, 2:29 PM CDT, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 2:29 PM CDT, 5 hours 28 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
220 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997

5H RIDGE OVER WESTERN TX WILL RETROGRADE SOME DURING THIS FCST PD
AS S/W ROTATES AROUND THE RIDGE AND ACROSS THE FA DURING THE
DAY ON MONDAY. AMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE MODERATELY UNSTABLE
WITH LI VALUES AROUND -5 AND K INDICIES RIGHT AROUND 30.
P.W. VALUES WILL CONTINUE TO BE SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL WITH
VALUES AROUND 1.8". WILL GO FOR CHC POPS ACROSS LA ON MONDAY
AND IN THE SLIGHT CHC CAT ACROSS SE TX AS VVEL REMAIN HIGHER
ACROSS LA. WL ALSO HAVE TO SEE IF SFC CONVERGENCE ZONE CURRENTLY OVER
CENTRAL LA THIS AFTERNOON MOVES ANY MORE TO SOUTH OVER TIME.

WILL ZKNOCK POPS BACK DOWN TO SLIGHT CHC CAT OVER LA ON TUESDAY
AS S/W PASSES AND NVA PREVAILS.             10

LCH 74/93/74/93 1322    AEX 71/93/71/94 2322
LFT 74/93/74/94 1322
BPT 75/94/74/93 1222

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 1997 Every 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.