Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 148, NWS Lake Charles, LA

August 30, 1998Avoyelles Parish, Rapides Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 30, 1998, 3:22 PM CDT for Avoyelles Parish, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 63 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: Aug 30, 1998, 3:22 PM CDT (20:22 UTC)
Expired: Aug 30, 1998, 4:25 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Avoyelles Parish, LA, Rapides Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 67 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:25 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	Remark
Aug 30, 4:18 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Woodworth, 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 144 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: 2927 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 906 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 18 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

105 
WUUS1 KLCH 302023 RRA
SVRLCH
LAC009-079-302125-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
322 PM CDT SUN AUG 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  AVOYELLES PARISH IN EAST CENTRAL LOUISIANA
  RAPIDES PARISH IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 425 PM CDT

* AT 319 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF MARKSVILLE OR 1 MILE
  NORTHWEST OF CENTER POINT MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 5 MPH. THIS IS
  ALONG THE RAPIDES/AVOYELLES PARISH LINE.

* THIS STORM CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR...
  CENTER POINT BY 325 PM CDT


SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND TORRENTIAL RAIN. FOR
YOUR PROTECTION...SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING. STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS AND AVOID USING TELEPHONES...COMPUTERS OR OTHER
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 Lake Charles, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 30, 2:53 PM CDT, 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 30, 2:53 PM CDT, 29 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
253 PM CDT SUN AUG 30 1998

OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM THIS MORNINGs MCS NORTH OF THE LCH CWA FIRED
UP A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EAST CENTRAL LA LATE THIS MORNING.
DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED BETWEEN 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAINFALL IN WESTERN
ST LANDRY PARISH IN LESS THAN AN HOUR...THUS JUSTIFYING THE FFW.
SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDING ACROSS EAST TEXAS AND CENTRAL LA BECOMING
REAL DIFFUSE AND IS EXPECTED TO WASH OUT IN THE NEXT 24H. STILL
THOUGH...EXPECT SCATTERED WIDELY SCATTERED ACTIVITY FOR THE REMAINDER
OF THE AFTERNOON IN THE VICINITY OF THE SURFACE TROUGH AND SHEAR AXIS
AT 50H.

MAIN FORECAST PROBLEM WILL BE EXPECTED DEVELOPMENT OF TROPICAL LOW
IN THE SOUTHWEST GULF OF MEXICO. ALL THREE MODELS...AVN...ETA AND NGM
DEVELOP THE LOW BY MONDAY MORNING. THE ETA IS THE QUICKEST AND THE
AVN A CLOSE SECOND. THE NGM IS CONSIDERABLY SLOWER AND WEAKER WITH
ITS SOLUTION. PREFER THE SLOWER NGM AT THIS TIME BASED ON CLIMATOLOGY
AND THE FACT THAT DEVELOPMENT HAS YET TO OCCUR. IN ADDITION...STEERING
WINDS LIKELY TO BE LIGHT. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY STRENGTHEN THROUGH THE
PERIOD FROM THE EAST. THIS TRAJECTORY CONDUCIVE FOR COASTAL FLOODING
(EKMAN EFFECT) PENDING DEVELOPMENT OF THE LOW. IN THE MEANTIME...WILL
GO WITH LOW CHANCE POPS DURING THE SECOND AND FOURTH PERIODS WITH
ISOLATED EARLY EVENING ACTIVITY. CONVECTIVE DEBRIS FROM ACTIVITY
ALONG THE WESTERN GULF OF MEXICO WILL KEEP CLOUD COVER OVER THE
FORECAST AREA THIS EVENING. THIS WILL HOLD TEMPS UP A BIT THIS EVENING
AS COMPARED TO THE LOWER OUTPUT FROM MOS. WILL USE A COMPROMISE OF
THE AVN AND NGM MOS FOR THE REMAINING PERIODS.

A LOT OF VARIABLES IN THIS FORECAST PACKAGE WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR
BIG CHANGES IN RELATIVELY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. WILL NEED TO CLOSELY
MONITOR THE SITUATION.

5

BPT 78/93/74/91 1213
LCH 78/93/74/91 1213
LFT 77/93/74/93 1213
AEX 75/95/71/9`3 2322

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 30, 11:59 AM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1159 AM CDT SUN AUG 30 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0800 PM    GIST                      TX   WIND DAMAGE
08/29/98   JASPER                         HIGH WINDS BLEW DOWN TREES,
                                          PHONE LINES, AND POWER LINES
                                          IN GIST. A TREE FELL INTO A
                                          HOUSE. POWER AND PHONE
                                          SERVICE WAS RESTORED BY 630
                                          THIS MORNING.

Local storm report, Aug 30, 2:56 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
256 PM CDT SUN AUG 30 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0250 PM    5 W WOODVILLE             TX   0.50 INCH HAIL
08/30/98   TYLER                          MARBLE SIZED HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY KFDM CH 6 METEOROLOGIST
                                          ALONG HIGHWAY 190 WEST OF
                                          WOODVILLE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 30, 11:51 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Landry	114 min
Aug 30, 4:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Calcasieu	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.