Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 32, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 18, 1998, 1:18 PM CDT for Beauregard Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 62 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 18, 1998, 1:18 PM CDT (18:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 18, 1998, 2:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Beauregard Parish, LA, Calcasieu Parish, LA
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:21 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 38 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLCH 181818 RRA TORLCH LAC011-019-181920- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 118 PM CDT SUN OCT 18 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... BEAUREGARD PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA CALCASIEU PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA * UNTIL 220 PM CDT * AT 116 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 29 MILES WEST OF LAKE CHARLES OR 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FIELDS MOVING NORTH AT 20 MPH. * TORNADO WILL BE NEAR FIELDS BY 150 PM CDT BANCROFT BY 155 PM CDT BIVENS BY 210 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 Oct 18, 9:13 AM CDT, 4 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 18, 9:13 AM CDT, 4 hours 5 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
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Oct 18, 12:26 PM CDT, 52 minutes before
LAZ041-042-051-TXZ215-216-182100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 1226 PM CDT SUN OCT 18 1998 ...FUNNEL CLOUDS EXPECTED TODAY... NUMEROUS SIGHTINGS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE BEEN REPORTED ACROSS JEFFERSON AND ORANGE COUNTIES THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR FUNNEL CLOUD DEVELOPMENT AS A LARGE AREA OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS EDGES EASTWARD INTO SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON. FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF TOUCHING DOWN AS TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE NOTICE. REMAIN ALERT AND STAY TUNED FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. DR
Special weather statement, Oct 18, 12:26 PM CDT, 52 minutes before
LAZ041-042-051-TXZ215-216-182100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 1226 PM CDT SUN OCT 18 1998 ...FUNNEL CLOUDS EXPECTED TODAY... NUMEROUS SIGHTINGS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE BEEN REPORTED ACROSS JEFFERSON AND ORANGE COUNTIES THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR FUNNEL CLOUD DEVELOPMENT AS A LARGE AREA OF RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS EDGES EASTWARD INTO SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON. FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF TOUCHING DOWN AS TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE NOTICE. REMAIN ALERT AND STAY TUNED FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. DR
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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.