Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 30, NWS Lake Charles, LA

October 18, 1998Jasper County, Orange County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 18, 1998, 10:23 AM CDT for Jasper County, Orange County, Texas. It was in force for 62 min. 3 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: Oct 18, 1998, 10:23 AM CDT (15:23 UTC)
Expired: Oct 18, 1998, 11:25 AM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Jasper County, TX, Orange County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:25 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
Oct 18, 10:23 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Vidor, TX
Oct 18, 11:02 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Gist, TX
Oct 18, 11:30 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Mauriceville, 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 nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 447 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 647 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 181523 RRA
TORLCH
TXC241-361-181625-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1023 AM CDT SUN OCT 18 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  JASPER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS
  ORANGE COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 1125 AM CDT

* AT 1018 AM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
  INDICATED A TORNADO 21 MILES NORTHWEST OF ORANGE OR 13 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF BUNKER HILL MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR
  BUNKER HILL BY 1050 AM CDT
  BUNA  BY 1055 AM CDT
  BESSMAY BY 1100 AM CDT


THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION -- TAKE COVER NOW. THIS
TORNADO IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING INCREDIBLE DESTRUCTION. ACT
QUICKLY...YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT. MOVE TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
REINFORCED BUILDING. DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR CAR.

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 Oct 18, 9:13 AM CDT, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 18, 9:13 AM CDT, 1 hour 10 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS..SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
913 AM CDT SUN OCT 18 1998

HEAVY RAIN TRAINING OVER SOUTHEAST TEXAS HAS BEGUN TO AFFECT EXTREME
WESTERN PORTIONS OF FORECAST AREA. SATELLITE TRENDS SHOW FOCUS OF
DEVELOPMENT SHIFTING DOWN THE TEXAS COAST NEAR CORPUS AREA. STILL
FEEL COMFORTABLE LEAVING OUR SOUTHEAST TEXAS AREA OUT OF FFA UNTIL
MAYBE TONIGHT...CAN HANDLE SITUATION TODAY WITH NOWCASTS. CAN BOOST
UPPER SOUTHEAST TEXAS POPS...HARDIN...JASPER...NEWTON...TYLER TO
CATEGORICAL AND ADD MENTION OF HEAVY RAINFALL IN ALL OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS. ALL ELSE LOOKS WELL. 8

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 18, 11:30 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton, Orange	65 min
Oct 18, 11:43 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jasper	2 hr
Oct 18, 4:42 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Orange	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.