Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 62, NWS Lake Charles, LA

October 6, 1998Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 6, 1998, 9:27 AM CDT for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Oct 6, 1998, 9:27 AM CDT (14:27 UTC)
Expired
Oct 6, 1998, 11:30 AM CDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:29 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 96 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 12:00Z on 1998-10-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1377 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 12:00Z on 1998-10-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 128 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1377 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
821 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
7.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 061427
FFWLCH
TXC245-061630-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
927 AM CDT TUE OCT 6 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 1130 AM CDT

* AT 922 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED THAT
  1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN ACROSS NORTHERN JEFFERSON
  COUNTY DURING THE PAST HOUR. 2 TO 3 INCHES OF ADDITIONAL
  RAINFALL IS EXPECTED ACROSS JEFFERSON COUNTY OVER THE NEXT 2
  HOURS.

* FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS IS LIKELY WITH SOME SIDE STREETS
  BECOMING IMPASSABLE.

HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS AND LOW LYING AREAS RAPIDLY...SO DO
NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER OF AN UNKNOWN
DEPTH COVERS THE ROAD. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS...ABANDON IT
IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK HIGHER GROUND.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 flash flood warning went out at Oct 6, 3:52 AM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 6, 3:52 AM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
252 AM CST TUE OCT 6 1998

COMPLICATED FCST WITH HIGH AMPLITUDE TROF OVR PLAINS WITH ASSOCIATED
STG COLD FNT MOVING SLOWER THAN PREV ETA PROGS NEAR CLL-TXK. RADAR
SHOWING PCPN SHIELD AT AND BEHIND FNT WITH AMS SHOWERS FORMING IN
HIGH MSTR/THETA ATM WITH MDT INSTABILITIES IN COASTAL WATERS AND
STREAMING INLAND. ETA ENERGY IS STILL FAVORED ALONG WITH NGM
MOVEMENT. ETA CONTINUES TO SHOW STG UVV INTO E TX AND SW LA AROUND
DAYBREAK. BLV ETA TO BE 6 HOURS FAST. UVV DUE TO RIGHT REAR QUAD OF
H2/H3 JETSTREAK WHICH...PUSHING TIMING BACK 6 HOURS...PUTS SE TX AND
NW LA IN A SVR THREAT LATE THIS AFTERNOON...REMAINDER OF THE FA THIS
EVENING. DUE TO HIGH PWS...THETA RDGG AND THCKNS DIVERGENCE...HVY
PCPN ALSO A CULPRIT. FFA FOR SE TX SHUD CONTINUE WITH AFTERNOON
WORDING IN ZNS. WOULD LIKE PSBL SVR WORDING FOR FA THIS AFTERNOON.
WENT HIR THAN MOS ON POPS TDA DUE TO THETA RDGG...MDT INSTABILITIES
AND UPPER FORCING. WENT WITH NGM TNITE...CUT POPS DOWN ON WED AS DRY
AIR WL BE QUICK TO MOVE IN. LWR TEMPS ON WED WITH WK CAA. 11

BPT 85/69/76 850
LCH 86/69/77 860  LFT 86/69/77 761  AEX 84/65/73 870

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 1998Every flash flood warning in 1998

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.