Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 85

March 7, 199814 parishes in Louisiana; 11 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 7, 1998, 8:45 AM CST for 14 parishes in Louisiana; 11 counties in Texas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 7, 1998, 8:45 AM CST (14:45 UTC)
Expired: Mar 7, 1998, 2:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Bienville Parish, LA, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, De Soto Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Angelina County, TX, Gregg County, TX, Harrison County, TX, Marion County, TX, Nacogdoches County, TX, Panola County, TX, Rusk County, TX, Sabine County, TX, San Augustine County, TX, Shelby County, TX, Upshur County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:46 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.

Warnings issued inside it

6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 7, 8:47 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bienville	63 min
Mar 7, 9:07 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Sabine	63 min
Mar 7, 9:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	De Soto	50 min
Mar 7, 10:11 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Shelby	49 min
Mar 7, 10:52 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Claiborne, Union	33 min
Mar 7, 1:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Marion	37 min

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 60 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 226 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 292 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

843 
WWUS9 KMKC 071420
SEL5  
MKC WW 071420
TXZ000-LAZ000-072000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 85
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
820 AM CST SAT MAR 7 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTHEAST TEXAS                              
   NORTHWEST LOUISIANA                          

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 845 AM UNTIL 200
PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES EAST OF LUFKIN TEXAS TO 45 MILES NORTH
NORTHEAST OF SHREVEPORT LOUISIANA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 82...WW 83...WW 84...

DISCUSSION...CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS INCREASING NEAR
LFK...MOVING NORTHEASTWARD TOWARD WW AREA.  LARGE HAIL WILL BE
PRIMARY THREAT THROUGH THE MORNING...BUT STRENGTHENING WIND FIELDS
AND INSTABILITY SUGGEST AN INCREASING THREAT OF TORNADOES WITH
STRONGEST STORMS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.

...HART

311,0950 330,0945 330,0920 311,0922

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 7, 3:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard and 30 more	6 hr
Mar 7, 6:00 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle and 6 more	5 hr
Mar 7, 12:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle and 6 more	6 hr
Mar 7, 1:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard and 29 more	6 hr
Mar 7, 3:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Avoyelles, Bienville, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto and 10 more	4 hr
Mar 6, 8:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bandera, Coke, Concho, Crockett, Edwards, Glasscock and 15 more	6 hr
Mar 7, 5:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Archer, Baylor, Callahan, Childress, Clay, Collin and 36 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 1998 Tornado Watches in Texas, 1998 Every tornado watch 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.