Alert archive / Texas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Lake Charles, LA

January 21, 1998Hardin County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 21, 1998, 2:36 PM CST for Hardin County, Texas. It was in force for 64 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: Jan 21, 1998, 2:36 PM CST (20:36 UTC)
Expired: Jan 21, 1998, 3:40 PM CST
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Hardin County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:38 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jan 21, 2:48 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Kountze, 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jan 21, 2:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 117 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: 58 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 313 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

469 
WUUS1 KLCH 212037 RRA
SVRLCH
TXC199-212140-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
236 PM CST WED JAN 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES LA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 340 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

   ...HARDIN COUNTY

AT 235 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
SILSBEE. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. RESIDENTS OF SILSBEE AND
LUMBERTON ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.


A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. IF A TORNADO APPROACHES YOUR
AREA...REMAIN CALM...MOVE TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS...SUCH AS A BATHROOM OR CLOSET.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH BLANKETS OR PILLOWS.

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 Jan 21, 10:00 AM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 21, 10:00 AM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1000 AM CST WED JAN 21 1998

MAINYL SCT SHRA/TSRA ACROSS THE CWA AT THE MOMENT...WITH THE EXPTN
OF A MORE ORGANIZED AREA OF CONVECTION ACROSS NE RAPIDES PARISH.
LATEST SFC ANALYSIS DEPICTS WARM FRONT NOSING INTO THE TEXAS COASTAL
BEND WITH THE SFC LOW JUST NORTH OF BRO. THIS SHOULD BE SHORT-LIVED
THOUGH AS THE NEXT SHORT WAVE APPOACHES THIS AFTERNOON FROM THE
BIG BEND AREA...CAUSING THE SFC WINDS TO BACK TO A MORE EASTERLY
FLOW. STILL FEEL BEST STRONG/SVR CONVECTION WILL BE ALONG THE COASTAL
ZONES IN PROXIMITY OF THE WARM FRONT. WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE THE
WORDING THIS AFTERNOON TO MENTION MAINLY LATE THIS AFTERNOON FOR
HEAVIEST RAINFALL.

5

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 21, 3:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jasper, Tyler	47 min
Jan 21, 3:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Hardin	30 min
Jan 21, 4:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jasper	48 min
Jan 21, 5:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jasper	28 min
Jan 21, 5:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Newton	50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Texas, 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.