Alert archive / Louisiana / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 11, 1999Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this flash flood warning at Mar 11, 1999, 9:36 PM CST for Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 11, 1999, 9:36 PM CST (03:36 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 1999, 12:00 AM CST
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Vermilion Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:36 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 00:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 93 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: 292 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 636 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 91 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 610 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 656 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 120338
FFWLCH
LAC113-120600-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
936 PM CST THU MAR 11 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  VERMILION PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST

* AT 930 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED THAT
  UP TO 1 1/2 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN OVER NORTHERN VERMILION
  PARISH DURING THE PAST 2 HOURS AND 4 TO 10 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE
  FALLEN SO FAR TODAY. A STORM SPOTTER IN KAPLAN REPORTED 6.25
  INCHES OF RAINFALL. UP TO 2 INCHES OF ADDITIONAL RAINFALL ARE
  EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA UNTIL MIDNIGHT.

  LISTED BELOW ARE CURRENT REPORTS FROM LOCAL AUTHORITIES...
  IN ABBEVILLE...NUMEROUS STREETS ARE FLOODED
  IN ERATH...ROADS ARE CLOSED IN VARIOUS LOCATIONS

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT
QUICKLY. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS
TO RISE. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT AT NIGHT TO TELL HOW MUCH WATER IS ON
THE ROADS. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE THROUGH WATER OF UNKNOWN
DEPTH.

&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 flash flood warning went out at Mar 11, 7:52 PM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 11, 7:52 PM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes before

SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
752 PM CST THU MAR 11 1999

TONIGHT/S LOW TEMPERATURE FORECASTS OVER EAST-CENTRAL TEXAS...
CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA NEED TO BE LOWERED A
FEW DEGREES. OTHERWISE CURRENT FORECASTS LOOK PRETTY GOOD.

20-SPARKS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 11, 6:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia, St. Mary	48 min
Mar 12, 5:09 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard	111 min
Mar 12, 6:22 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen	48 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Louisiana, 1999 Every flash flood warning in 1999

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.