Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 94, NWS Lake Charles, LA

September 3, 1997Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 3, 1997, 9:22 PM CDT for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 53 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
Sep 3, 1997, 9:22 PM CDT (02:22 UTC)
Expired
Sep 3, 1997, 10:15 PM CDT
In force
53 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Calcasieu Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:26 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
Sep 3, 9:40 PM CDTThunderstorm WindLake Charles, 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 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 19 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 00:00Z on 1997-09-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2290 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 00:00Z on 1997-09-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 16 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
2290 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1376 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 040225 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC019-040315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
922 PM CDT WED SEP 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
       CALCASIEU PARISH
 
AT 920 PM CDT...NEXRAD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
LOCATED 5 MILES EAST OF MOSS BLUFF MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 25 MPH. THIS
STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS MOSS BLUFF AND LAKE CHARLES PRODUCING WIND
GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH WITH DIME SIZE HAIL POSSIBLE.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUzCTIVE 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 Sep 3, 8:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 3, 8:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
815 PM CDT WED SEP 3 1997

HAVE CF ANGLED FROM NW TO SE ACROSS NORTHERN PORTION OF LA FA.
CURRENTLY LOCATED FROM 20 MILES N OF LFK TO JUST S OF AEX TO NEAR
BTR. WIDELY SCT SHWRS AND TSTMS OCCURRING ALONG FRONT FROM AEX TO
LFK. DECENT MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ALONG THE FRONT AND ATMOS MOD
UNSTABLE PER 00Z LCH SOUNDING. WILL LEAVE POPS UNCHANGED...XCEPT
FOR CEN LA WHERE THEY CAN BE DROPPED TO A SLIGHT CHC OF SHWRS
UNTIL MIDNIGHT.

1

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.