Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 18, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 6, 1999, 3:46 PM CST for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 64 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 6, 1999, 3:46 PM CST (21:46 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 6, 1999, 4:50 PM CST
- In force
- 64 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Calcasieu Parish, LA
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:49 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 6, 4:30 PM CST | Tornado F0 | Lake Charles, LA |
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 nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 19 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 500 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 145 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 261 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS1 KLCH 062147 RRA TORLCH LAC019-062250- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 346 PM CST WED JAN 6 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CALCASIEU PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA * UNTIL 450 PM CST * AT 344 PM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 28 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAKE CHARLES OR 6 MILES SOUTH OF TOOMEY MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. * THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS. 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. K. KUYPER
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 Jan 6, 2:30 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 6, 2:30 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes before
SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 230 PM CST WED JAN 6 1999 LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS SFC TROF IN CENTRAL TX WITH HIGH PRESSURE MOVING OFF SE US COAST. S/W THAT PASSED TO THE NORTH GAVE FA LESS OF AN ONSHORE COMPONENT BRIEFLY...BUT LAST 1-2 HRS...FLOW HAS RETURNED TO THE SOUTH. 88DS SHOWING SCATTERED SHWRS IN EXTREME EASTERN TX WITH BETTER COVERAGE IN WESTERN LA ATTM. WHERE CLOUDS HAVE BROKEN...TEMPS ARE IN THE MID TO UPPER 60S. VIS SAT IMAGERY SHOWS BROKEN DECK INTO EAST TX WITH A STRATUS DECK ON A LINE FROM NEAR LUFKIN TO JUST WEST OF HOU TO VICTORIA. SHORT TERM...CONCERNS ARE PCPN. AVN JUMPED ON THE PCPN WAGON GENERATING AN 80 POP FOR LCH 1ST PERIOD WHILE NGM POP WAS 30. NGM INITIALIZATION LOOKS BETTER WITH REGARDS TO MOISTURE FROM 500MB DOWN AND INSTABILITY WITH LIS CLOSE TO LCH SOUNDING OF +5 AS OPPOSED TO ETA LI OF +2. THINK NGM MAY BE A BIT LOW WITH POPS...WILL UP POPS SLIGHTLY TO 40 FOR LA AND 30 POP FOR TX AS CURRENT TRENDS SHOW PCPN WILL MIGRATE IN TO LA THIS EVE. FOR TEMPS...GUIDANCE NUMBERS CLOSE AND WILL USE THEM. THURSDAY/THURSDAY NIGHT...SFC TROF/STATIONARY FRONT FCST TO EXTEND FROM SE TX INTO CENTRAL LA WITH THE STRONGER FRONT ENTERING OZARKS. STRONG RETURN FLOW/WAA WILL CONTINUE. ETA DEPICTS DECENT INSTABILITY WITH FCST CAPES OF 1000-1500 J/KG. NGM/ETA SHOW A 310-320K THETA-E RIDGE OVER FA. ETA/AVN GENERATES A BULLSEYE OF PCPN OVER EAST FA INTO NEWS FA. BELIEVE THIS IS HIGHLY OVERDONE. WILL CONTINUE TO STAY CLOSE TO FWC GUIDANCE FOR POPS AND TEMPS. FRIDAY...BRIEF RESPITE FROM PCPN. MAX THETA-E ADVECTION MOVES EAST OF REGION WITH THETA-E RIDGE ASSOC WITH FRONT WEST OF FA FRIDAY. SFC COLD FRONT DEPICTED IN NORTHERN LA FRIDAY LATE. WILL THROW IN ISOLATED POPS 4TH PERIOD FOR BPT/LCH FOR PSBL PCPN LATE IN PERIOD. EXTENDED...FRONT WILL MOVE THRU FA BY SAT EVE WITH SIGNIFICANT BUT BRIEF COOLDOWN AS PACIFIC AIR WILL CUT OFF ARCTIC AIRMASS EARLY NEXT WEEK. 18 LCH EB 055/069 057/072 053 432 LFT EB 054/069 056/072 053 432 AEX EB 050/067 053/071 049 431 BPT EB 057/070 059/073 055 332
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 6, 5:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis | 60 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.