Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Lake Charles, LA

October 23, 1997Jasper County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 23, 1997, 7:16 PM CDT for Jasper County, Texas. It was in force for 44 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
Oct 23, 1997, 7:16 PM CDT (00:16 UTC)
Expired
Oct 23, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
44 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Jasper County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:17 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
Oct 23, 7:30 PM CDTTornado F1Jasper, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Oct 23, 2:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 105 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 1997-10-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 880 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-10-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 124 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
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.

113 
WFUS1 KLCH 240018 RRA
TORLCH
TXC241-240100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
716 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS
 
   ...NORTHERN JASPER COUNTY
 
AT 715 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO AROUND TOWN BLUFF.
 
THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH...AND WILL ENTER JASPER COUNTY
BY 720 PM...REACHING THE CITY OF JASPER BY 730 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 23, 7:45 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHNewton60 min

Nearby

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