Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 758

October 23, 199710 parishes in Louisiana; 24 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 23, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT for 10 parishes in Louisiana; 24 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 23, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 24, 1997, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 34 counties

Acadia Parish, LA, Allen Parish, LA, Beauregard Parish, LA, Calcasieu Parish, LA, Cameron Parish, LA, Evangeline Parish, LA, Jefferson Davis Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA, Anderson County, TX, Angelina County, TX, Brazos County, TX, Cherokee County, TX, Freestone County, TX, Grimes County, TX, Hardin County, TX, Houston County, TX, Jasper County, TX, Jefferson County, TX, Leon County, TX, Liberty County, TX, Madison County, TX, Montgomery County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Newton County, TX, Orange County, TX, Polk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, San Jacinto County, TX, Trinity County, TX, Tyler County, TX, Walker County, TX

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 172 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:59 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.

Warnings issued inside it

15 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 23, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	60 min
Oct 23, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Cherokee	45 min
Oct 23, 8:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Beauregard	66 min
Oct 23, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	59 min
Oct 23, 8:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Nacogdoches, Rusk	51 min
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, 9:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	HGX	Houston	38 min
Oct 23, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	47 min
Oct 23, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Nacogdoches	52 min
Oct 23, 10:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Sabine	40 min
Oct 23, 10:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Sabine	35 min
Oct 23, 11:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	San Augustine	27 min
Oct 24, 12:47 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Evangeline, Jefferson Davis	58 min
Oct 24, 1:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Sabine	39 min

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 183 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.

159 
WWUS9 KMKC 240026
SEL8  
MKC WW 240026
TXZ000-LAZ000-240700-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 758
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
726 PM CDT THU OCT 23 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEASTERN AND EAST CENTRAL TEXAS                            
   SOUTHWESTERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA                          

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 800 PM UNTIL
200 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 1/2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 95 MILES WEST OF LUFKIN TEXAS TO 50 MILES EAST
NORTHEAST OF LAKE CHARLES LOUISIANA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 756...WW 757...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORM CLUSTER WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SEVERE
AND TORNADIC ACTIVITY AS STORMS MOVE ALONG SURFACE BOUNDARIES AHEAD
OF STRONG UPPER VORT AXIS. 30 TO 40 KT LOW LEVEL SLY JET COMBINED
WITH 60 TO 70 KT MID LEVEL SWLY FLOW INDICATES SHEAR SUFFICIENT FOR
TORNADIC SUPERCELLS. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 1/2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24045.


...ROGASH

321,0962 311,0922 291,0922 301,0962

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 24, 12:30 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard and 33 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Texas, 1997 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.