Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 17, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Mar 7, 1998, 4:40 AM CST for Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 65 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
- Mar 7, 1998, 4:40 AM CST (10:40 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 7, 1998, 5:45 AM CST
- In force
- 65 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Vermilion Parish, LA
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 7, 4:45 AM CST | Hail 1.75 | Intracoastal City, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 7, 3:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 93 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 904 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 617 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 65 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 159 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 2.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLCH 071039 RRA TORLCH LAC113-071145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 440 AM CST SAT MAR 7 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES LA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA ...VERMILION PARISH AT 435 AM CST...NATIOANL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES WEST OF FORKED ISLAND MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THE COMMUNTIES OF FORKED ISLAND AND INTRACOASTAL CITY ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS AND DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDIER BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Mar 7, 1:55 AM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 7, 1:55 AM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes before
SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 155 AM CST SAT MAR 7 1998 STRONGEST ACTIVITY NOW PUSHING NORTHEAST OF FA WITH ACTIVITY REDEVELOPING ALONG COASTAL SECTIONS WHERE JET SUPPORT CONTINUES. NEXT BOUT OF SEVERE WEATHER STILL ON TAP BEGINNING LATE THIS MORNING... CONTINUING INTO THIS EVENING WHEN SURFACE COLD FRONT SWEEPS EAST ACROSS FA. MODELS STILL SHOWING IMPRESSIVE DIRECTIONAL DIVERGENCE UPSTREAM DEVELOPING/DEEPENING UPPER LEVEL LOW. FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING STILL LOOKS GOOD DUE TO RECENT RAINS...00Z LCH SOUNDING SHOWED PW VALUES AROUND 1.7 INCHES. PATCHY FOG REDEVELOPING ALONG COASTAL SECTIONS THIS MORNING...HOWEVER NOT EXPECTING WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG. LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPERTURES EXPECTED TODAY AS THICKNESSES CHANGE LITTLE. 09 BPT 76/57/65 850 LCH 75/59/65 850 LFT 74/60/66 860 AEX 70/56/64 870 TX ZONES... LA ZONES...
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 6, 11:48 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Jefferson Davis | |
| Mar 7, 2:42 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Cameron | 63 min |
| Mar 7, 3:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Allen | 59 min |
| Mar 7, 3:51 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Cameron | 34 min |
| Mar 7, 3:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Vermilion | 58 min |
| Mar 7, 4:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Rapides | 59 min |
| Mar 7, 4:55 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Acadia | 45 min |
| Mar 7, 5:11 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Beauregard | 44 min |
| Mar 7, 5:17 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Iberia | 63 min |
| Mar 7, 5:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Calcasieu | 43 min |
| Mar 7, 6:24 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Cameron | 61 min |
| Mar 7, 6:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Calcasieu | 49 min |
| Mar 7, 6:45 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | LCH | Calcasieu | 2 hr |
| Mar 7, 7:50 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Jefferson Davis | 40 min |
| Mar 7, 1:26 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Beauregard | 44 min |
| Mar 7, 1:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Allen | 45 min |
| Mar 7, 2:14 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Rapides | 56 min |
| Mar 7, 2:20 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Saint Landry | 60 min |
| Mar 7, 2:51 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Beauregard | 34 min |
| Mar 7, 2:58 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Vernon | 47 min |
| Mar 7, 3:49 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Vernon | 46 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.