Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 95, NWS Shreveport, LA

April 5, 1997Columbia County, Lafayette County, Arkansas

NWS Shreveport, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 5, 1997, 12:35 AM CST for Columbia County, Lafayette County, Arkansas. It was in force for 40 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: Apr 5, 1997, 12:35 AM CST (06:35 UTC)
Expired: Apr 5, 1997, 1:15 AM CST
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Shreveport, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Columbia County, AR, Lafayette County, AR

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:38 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 4, 10:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 00:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 89 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: 94 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -95 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 206 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 332 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSHV 050635 RRA
SVRSHV
ARC027-073-050715-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
1235 AM CST SAT APR 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM CST
FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS
 
   ...WESTERN COLUMBIA COUNTY...EASTERN LAFAYETTE COUNTY
 
AT 1234 AM CST...DOPPLER RADAR IN SHREVEPORT DETECTED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 15 MILES WEST OF MAGNOLIA ON THE COLUMBIA/LAFAYETTE
COUNTY LINE. THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE NORTH NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 65 MPH ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNHED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND SOMETIMES DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.
 
11/18

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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 4, 8:30 PM CST, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 4, 8:30 PM CST, 4 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
830 PM CST FRI APR 4 1997

SEVERE WEATHER CONTINUES TO DOMINATE THE WEATHER THIS EVENING. FIRST
ROUND OF SVR THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCED A TORNADO OR TWO AND SEVERAL
REPORTS OF HIGH WIND. STRONG UPPER LOW OVER BIG BEND AREA OF TEXAS
IS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AND WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER
IN OUR AREA INTO THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING.  DRY LINE SHOULD PUNCH
WELL INTO EAST AND NORTHEAST TEXAS TONIGHT... BUT SHOULD STOP JUST
WEST OF SHREVEPORT. SEVERE WEATHER WILL SLOWLY TAPER OFF LATE TONIGHT
AS THE UPPER LOW MOVES RAPIDLY NORTH OF OUR AREA.  NEED TO CONTINUE
FLASH FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT FOR NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA
AND FOR NORTHEAST TEXAS UNTIL THE NEXT FCST ISSUANCE. THE REMAINDER
OF THE FORECAST LOOKS OK AS IS.

3

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 5, 12:28 AM CST, 7 minutes before

ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077-TXZ096-
097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-050645-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
1228 AM CST SAT APR 5 1997

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 AM FOR A LARGE PORTION
OF NORTHEAST TEXAS...NORTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT FOR
NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...NORTHEAST TEXAS AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...

AT 1230 AM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
FROM JUST WEST OF EL DORADO ARKANSAS TO SHREVEPORT TO LUFKIN TEXAS.
THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE OCCURRING IN THE SHREVEPORT AREA...NEAR
MAGNOLIA ARKANSAS AND NEAR CENTER TEXAS.

SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE 40 TO 50 MPH WINDS
...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND FROM ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN PER HOUR.
THE HEAVY RAINS WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE FLOODING OF LOW LYING AND
POOR DRAINAGE AREAS ALONG WITH FLOODING OF SOME ROADWAYS.

FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS CONTINUE IN EFFECT FOR CADDO...BOSSIER...WEBSTER
PARISHES IN NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...AND PANOLA...SHELBY AND NACOGDOCHES
COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST TEXAS UNTIL 400 AM.

FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL 230 AM FOR HARRISON COUNTY
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS AND COLUMBIA COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS.

DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES THAT TWO TO FOUR INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN
OVER A LARGE PORTION OF NORTHEAST TEXAS...NORTHWEST LOUISIANA AND
SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS WITH ISOLATED SIX INCH AMOUNTS REPORTED.

IV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 7:56 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Union	4 hr
Apr 4, 10:29 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Columbia	4 hr
Apr 4, 11:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Hempstead, Howard	54 min
Apr 5, 2:22 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Columbia	4 hr
Apr 5, 3:44 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	SHV	Union	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 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.