Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 25, NWS Lake Charles, LA

September 11, 1998Allen Parish, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Sep 11, 1998, 5:45 PM CDT for Allen Parish, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 65 min. 2 reports 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: Sep 11, 1998, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Sep 11, 1998, 6:50 PM CDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Allen Parish, LA, Evangeline Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 62 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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
Sep 11, 5:56 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Basile, LA
Sep 11, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Oakdale, 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 40 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 636 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 422 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

785 
WFUS1 KLCH 112247 RRA
TORLCH
LAC003-039-112350-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
545 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ALLEN PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA
  EVANGELINE PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 650 PM CDT

* AT 544 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 17 MILES EAST OF KINDER OR 5 MILES SOUTH OF BASILE
  MOVING NORTH AT 35 MPH.  THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING A
  TORNADO.  THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS STORM.

* TORNADO WILL BE NEAR
  BASILE BY 550 PM CDT
  HAMPTON BY 605 PM CDT
  SOILEU BY 605 PM CDT
  OBERLIN BY 610 PM CDT
  OAKDALE BY 630 PM CDT

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER
IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE
BLANKETS...PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS TO PROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING
DEBRIS.

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 Sep 11, 1:35 PM CDT, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 11, 1:35 PM CDT, 4 hours 10 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
135 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 1998

TROPICAL STORM FRANCES IS MOVING LITTLE AT THIS TIME. FOR NOW...HEAVY
RAINS WILL SLOWLY TAPER OFF INTENSITY-WISE INTO THE EARLY EVENING
HOURS THOUGH THE COVERAGE WILL CONTINUE TO BE WIDESPREAD. TONIGHT THE
SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO INHALE...BRINGING A NEW ONSLAUGHT OF RAIN AND
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY...POSSIBLY ENDING OUR SEVERE DROUGHT.
COORDINATED WITH SPC ON THE TORNADO WATCH AND AGREED THAT...FOR
NOW...THE MAIN THREAT WOULD BE RAINFALL AND FLOODING...NOT TORNADOES.
HOWEVER...ISOLATED TORNADOES REMAIN POSSIBLE NEAR THE COAST DUE TO
FRICTIONAL EFFECTS OF THE TOPOGRAPHY AND THE LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR.

SEVERAL CHARACTERS ARE AT PLAY WHICH WILL AFFECT THE FUTURE COURSE
OF FRANCES. AN UPPER LOW (200 HPA) IS CUTTING OFF IN NORTHEAST
MEXICO...JUST TO THE SOUTHWEST OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE. THE PROXIMITY
OF THIS UPPER LOW WILL DO WHAT THE PREVIOUS ONE DID TO THE ONLY SYSTEM
2-3 DAYS AGO...MAKE IT MORE BAROCLINIC...IN OTHER WORDS MORE
EXTRATROPICAL WITH TIME. THIS TRANSITION SHOULD TAKE A DAY OR TWO.
ALSO, THIS COULD STEER THE SYSTEM TO THE NORTHWEST WITH TIME.

HOWEVER, THE ETA AND THE AVN (THOUGH TO A LESSER EXTENT) BUILD THE
500 HPA RIDGE OVER THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES SOUTHWESTWARD. ALL
THIS SEEMS TO HINGE ON HOW STRONG THE SHORTWAVE IS THAT IS
ANCHORED IN THE WESTERN U.S. AT THIS TIME. THESE FACTORS WOULD PUSH
THE CYCLONE ON A MORE SOUTHWEST TRACK TO THE RIO GRANDE BASIN AND
NORTHEAST MEXICO BY 48 HOURS...AN AREA WHERE MEMORIES OF CHARLEY AND
ITS FLOODING ARE STILL FRESH. THE CURRENT SATELLITE LOOP SEEMS TO BE
INDICATING THIS TREND BY THE SYSTEM REORIENTING ITSELF IN A SW-NE
ORIENTATION. THIS IS QUITE SIMILAR TO WHAT CARLA DID IN 1961 AND
BEULAH IN 1967....BOTH CREATED SEVERE RIVER FLOODING ACROSS TEXAS.
THIS TRACK WOULD DROP OFF OUR RAIN CHANCES TO VIRTUALLY NIL ON
SUNDAY.

THE CURRENT FORECAST REFLECTS THIS THINKING AND BLENDS IT WITH THE
PREVIOUS FORECAST. THIS WILL MAKE THE FORECAST A DRIER SOLUTION THAN
THE NGM MOS BRINGS FORTH ON SUNDAY. RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE UNTIL
TOMORROW TONIGHT AS THE SYSTEM SLOWLY MOVES SOUTHWEST...TAKING ITS
BANDING RAINS FURTHER SOUTHWEST INTO HOUSTONS COUNTY WARNING AREA BY
TOMORROW NIGHT. THE TEMPERATURE FORECAST FOLLOWS FROM THIS AND TAKES
CLIMATOLOGY AND PERSISTENCE (ON LOWS) INTO ACCOUNT. NGM MOS WAS ALMOST
UNUSABLE.

WINDS WILL STAY UP THROUGH THE WEEKEND...KEEPING THE AREA IN COASTAL
FLOOD. WHEN THE TROPICAL STORM WARNINGS COME DOWN...COASTAL FLOOD
WARNINGS WILL BE ISSUED FOR OUR ENTIRE COUNTY WARNING AREA.

BPT 75/83/75/87 +853
LCH 75/83/75/90 +842
LFT 75/83/75/90 +842
AEX 73/85/73/90 8732

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 11, 5:27 PM CDT, 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
527 PM CDT FRI SEP 11 1998

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

0518 PM    MIDLAND                   LA   TORNADO
09/11/98   ACADIA                         PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO
                                          TOUCHDOWN IN SOUTH MIDLAND.
                                          DAMAGE TO MOBILE HOME AND
                                          SCHOOL.  NO INJURES HAVE
                                          BEEN REPORTED AT THIS TIME.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 11, 7:24 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Cameron	46 min
Sep 11, 10:53 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jefferson Davis	47 min
Sep 11, 1:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Calcasieu, Cameron	4 hr
Sep 11, 4:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Jefferson Davis	3 hr
Sep 11, 4:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Vermilion	3 hr
Sep 11, 5:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Acadia	64 min
Sep 11, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jefferson Davis	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.