Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Lake Charles, LA

October 23, 1997Beauregard Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 1997, 8:24 PM CDT for Beauregard Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 66 min. 3 reports 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: Oct 23, 1997, 8:24 PM CDT (01:24 UTC)
Expired: Oct 23, 1997, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Beauregard Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:27 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
Oct 23, 8:25 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Merryville, LA
Oct 23, 8:45 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	De Ridder, LA
Oct 23, 8:55 PM CDT	Tornado F1	De Ridder, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 23, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 60 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: 880 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 853 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 3.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

404 
WFUS1 KLCH 240126 RRA
TORLCH
LAC011-240230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
824 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
 
   ...BEAUREGARD PARISH
 
AT 825 PM...DOPPER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO JUST SOUTH OF MERRYVILLE.
THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
THIS STORM WILL PASS THROUGH MERRYVILLE AND SINGER BEFORE 830 PM...AND
REACH DERIDDER BY 845 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR
ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS
...OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
 
 
ERICKSON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 23, 9:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Allen	55 min
Oct 23, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	36 min
Oct 23, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	47 min
Oct 24, 12:47 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Evangeline, Jefferson Davis	58 min
Oct 24, 1:56 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Vermilion	64 min
Oct 24, 3:49 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Evangeline	41 min
Oct 24, 3:49 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Avoyelles	41 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.