Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1998, 5:25 PM CST for Newton County, Texas. It was in force for 50 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, 5:25 PM CST (23:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 21, 1998, 6:15 PM CST
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Newton County, TX
The radar
The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:28 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, 6:00 PM CST | Hail 1 | Newton, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 91 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
470 WFUS1 KLCH 212324 RRA TORLCH TXC351-220015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 525 PM CST WED JAN 21 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES LA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS ...NEWTON COUNTY AT 520 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR KIRBYVILLE. THE TORNADO IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO THREAT...THE STORM IS LIKELY PRODUCING GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL. THE STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS HIGHWAY 87 BETWEEN NEWTON AND BLEAKWOOD. 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Hardin | 64 min |
| 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 |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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.