Alert archive / Louisiana / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 37, NWS Lake Charles, LA

June 26, 1999Iberia Parish, Saint Martin Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 26, 1999, 6:53 AM CDT for Iberia Parish, Saint Martin Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 57 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: Jun 26, 1999, 6:53 AM CDT (11:53 UTC)
Expired: Jun 26, 1999, 7:50 AM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Iberia Parish, LA, Saint Martin Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:54 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, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 146 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: 336 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 833 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 141 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.

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 261156
FFWLCH
LAC045-099-261250-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
653 AM CDT SAT JUN 26 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  IBERIA PARISH IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA
  UPPER ST. MARTIN PARISH IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 750 AM CDT

* AT 653 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATED THAT
  4 TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN ACROSS NORTHERN SECTIONS OF
  IBERIA PARISH AND SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF UPPER ST MARTIN PARISH
  OVER THE PAST THREE HOURS. 1 TO 2 INCHES OF ADDITIONAL RAINFALL
  IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH 800 AM CDT.

* SIGNIFICANT FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS WILL OCCUR.  STREET
  FLOODING IN THE CITY OF ST MARTINVILLE AND NEW IBERIA WILL BE
  POSSIBLE. HIGHWAY 96 BETWEEN ST MARTINVILLE AND CATAHOULA IS
  CLOSED DUE TO HIGH WATER.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY AND THE ROAD BENEATH MAY NOT BE INTACT. VEHICLES
CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY. IT ONLY TAKES
A FOOT OR TWO OF FLOWING WATER TO WASH MOST CARS AWAY. REMEMBER...
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.

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 Jun 26, 1:55 AM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 26, 1:55 AM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHWEST/CENTRAL LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
155 AM CDT SAT JUN 26 1999

ANOTHER DIFFICULT FORECAST WITH MODELS DIFFERING SIGNIFICANTLY ON
PRECIP NEXT 48 HOURS. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALREADY REDEVELOPED ACROSS
FA / COASTAL WATERS THIS MORNING WITH HEAVY RAIN CONTINUING. WSR-88D
PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES INDICATE THAT 1-2 INCHES OF WIDESPREAD RAIN
HAS OCCURRED ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND SOUTHERN LOUISIANA...WITH
LOCALIZED POCKETS OF 4-5 INCHES OVER SOUTHERN ZONES. THIS VERIFIES
NICELY WITH OBSERVER RAINFALL TOTALS. FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE REMAINS LOW
ACROSS FA AND WILL THEREFORE BE CONSERVATIVE AND CONTINUE FLASH FLOOD
WATCH FOR TODAY. ANY HEAVY RAIN THAT DEVELOPS WILL LIKELY CAUSE
FLOODING.

UPPER LOW MOVING NE INTO MISSOURI ATTM WITH 500 MB SHEAR AXIS LOCATED
ALONG THE TEXAS/LA BORDER.  MCS MOVING SE INTO NORTH-CENTRAL TEXAS
ALONG PERIPHERY OF UPPER LEVEL HIGH.  HAVE DISCOUNTED NGM MODEL AND
WILL DEVIATE SIG ON 1ST/2ND PERIOD POPS. WILL LEAN MORE TOWARD THE
AVN/ETA SOLUTION KEEPING 500 MB SHEAR AXIS OVER THE AREA WITH PWS
REMAINING HIGH. (AROUND 2.00 INCHES). ANY PRECIP THAT DEVELOPS WILL
CONTAIN LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. WILL TAPER POPS FROM WEST TO EAST WITH
BEST PRECIP CHANCES OCCURRING OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA. COULD
AGAIN SEE WIDESPREAD 1-2 INCH RAINFALL TOTALS WITH LOCALLY 5 INCHES
POSSIBLE. WILL LOWER RAIN CHANCES FOR SUN BUT MAY HAVE TO BE REVISED
ON LATER MODEL RUNS DEPENDING ON EXACT LOCATION / STRENGTH OF TROUGH
AXIS. ETA TRIES TO KEEP FEATURE STATIONARY WITH PRECIP CONTINUING
ALONG COASTAL SECTIONS.  WENT LOWER ON HIGH TEMPS DUE TO FORECASTED
CLOUDS/PRECIP.

FFA ENTIRE LCH FA TODAY...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE.

12

LCH 86/77/88/77 7341
LFT 85/76/88/76 8441
AEX 86/75/88/76 7221
BPT 87/77/90/77 6231

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 26, 4:50 AM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
450 AM CDT SAT JUN 26 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0445 AM    ST MARTINVILLE            LA   FLOODING
06/26/99   UPPER SAINT MARTIN             ST MARTINVILLE POLICE
                                          DEPARTMENT REPORTED HIGHWAY
                                          96 WESTBOUND CLOSED DUE TO
                                          HIGH WATER.  WATER
                                          APPROACHING SOME HOMES IN
                                          THE CITY.  STREET FLOODING
                                          ALSO OCCURRING.

Local storm report, Jun 26, 4:50 AM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
450 AM CDT SAT JUN 26 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0445 AM    ST MARTINVILLE            LA   FLOODING
06/26/99   UPPER SAINT MARTIN             ST MARTINVILLE POLICE
                                          DEPARTMENT REPORTED HIGHWAY
                                          96 WESTBOUND CLOSED DUE TO
                                          HIGH WATER.  WATER
                                          APPROACHING SOME HOMES IN
                                          THE CITY.  STREET FLOODING
                                          ALSO OCCURRING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 26, 3:08 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Iberia	2 hr
Jun 26, 4:17 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Martin	58 min
Jun 26, 5:02 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Iberia, Saint Martin	118 min
Jun 26, 7:55 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Martin	2 hr
Jun 26, 12:44 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Saint Martin	2 hr

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.