Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Lake Charles, LA

January 7, 1999Rapides Parish, Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 7, 1999, 4:23 PM CST for Rapides Parish, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 32 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 7, 1999, 4:23 PM CST (22:23 UTC)
Expired: Jan 7, 1999, 4:55 PM CST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Rapides Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 11 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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 7, 4:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Rosepine, 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, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 119 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: 45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 497 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 163 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KLCH 072225 RRA
TORLCH
LAC079-115-072255-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
423 PM CST THU JAN 7 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN RAPIDES PARISH IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA
  EASTERN VERNON PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 455 PM CST

* AT 421 PM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A DEVELOPING TORNADO 27 MILES WEST OF ALEXANDRIA OR 6 MILES WEST
  OF HINESTON MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* TORNADO WILL BE NEAR
  HINESTON BY 435 PM CST
  HEMPHILL BY 440 PM CST


IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER
IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE
BLANKETS...PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS TO PROTECT YOUR BODY FROM FLYING
DEBRIS.

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 7, 2:20 PM CST, 2 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 2:20 PM CST, 2 hours 3 minutes before

SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
220 PM CST THU JAN 7 1999

*** CORRECTED CCF FCST CODES ***

LATEST SFC MAP SHOWS STATIONARY FRONT IN NORTHERN LA WITH HEAVY TO
RAINFALL MOVING ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LA. AREAS IN SW AND
SOUTH-CENTRAL LA HAVE REPORTED OVER 6 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE LAST NIGHT.

SHORT TERM...CONCERNS ARE HEAVY PCPN/FLOODING IN CENTRAL AND NORTH FA
AND CONVECTION SOUTHWEST FA. HAVE ISSUED FFW TO ENCOMPASS
SW/S-CENTRAL LA THROUGH TNGT. RECOMMEND FFA BE EXTENDED THROUGH
TNGT. SW LA HAS BROKEN OUT WITH LCH SCT100 AT 19Z. TEMPS HAVE CLIMBED
TO NEAR 70 IN SW LA/SE TX. MODIFIED 12Z LCH SOUNDING (WITH 72/66)
GENERATES CAPES OF 1500-2000 J/KG WHICH CORRELATES WELL WITH THE FCST
CAPES FROM THE 12Z ETA RUN. S-R HELICITY WAS 225 M2/S2 FROM THE 12Z
RUN. ETA DEPICTS A WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVING ALONG NORTHERN FA BOUNDARY
THIS EVENING. THIS WILL IMPROVE THE SHEAR PROFILE SOMEWHAT...WITH
MODEL SR HELICITIES OF 300-400 M2/S2. SPC 94O UPDATE PUTS THE NORTHERN
FA IN A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE. WITH THE SFC HEATING TAKING PLACE IN SW
LA...THINK THREAT INCLUDES ALL OF FA WITH NORTHERN FA WITH GREATEST
THREAT OF ROTATING STORMS AS BEST SHEARING WILL BE IN PROXIMITY TO
S/W. ALSO...MODELS DEPICT 850-300MB THICKNESS DIFLUENCE TNGT INTO FRI
AM WITH ETA BEING THE MOST  AGGRESSIVE. COULD BE SIMILAR PATTERN TO
LAST NIGHT WITH RESPECT TO TRAINING. WILL GO WITH HIGHER FAN POPS...
USING 50 FOR LCH/LFT/BPT AND 60 FOR AEX. FOR QPF...WILL REDUCE ETA
VALUES A BIT TAKING INTO ACCT BASIN AVERAGING. FOR TEMPS...WITH
CLDS/PCPN AND WARMER THAN FCST PM TEMPS TDA...WILL SO SLIGHTLY ABOVE
GUIDANCE NUMBERS.

FRI/FRI NIGHT...COLD FRONT WILL ENTER NORTHERN LA FRI EVE. MODELS
SIMILAR WITH FROPA 06-09Z SAT NORTH/WEST AND AROUND 12Z EAST. FRONTAL
DYNAMICS WILL BE MOST FAVORABLE NORTH OF FA...BUT WITH SIGNIFICANT
INSTABILITY PRESENT THRU FRI EVE WITH LIS OF -4 AND CAPES OF 1500
J/KG...GOOD CHANCE OF SHWRS/TSTMS. SPC INDICATES SLIGHT RISK...AGAIN
BEST CHANCE NORTH FA WHERE BEST U/A DYNAMICS EXIST. FOR 2ND PERIOD...
WILL GO WITH 40 POPS FOR SOUTH AND 50 IN NORTH. FOR 2ND PERIOD
TEMPS...NEAR 70 IN SOUTH WITH UPPER 60S NORTH. FOR 3RD PERIOD...WILL
INCREASE PCPN COVERAGE SLIGHTLY DUE TO PROXIMITY OF FRONT AND GO WITH
60 POP IN NORTH AND 50 POP IN SOUTH. FOR 3RD PERIOD TEMPS...WILL GO
WITH SLIGHTLY WARMER FAN GUIDANCE.

SATURDAY...FRONT SHOULD MOVE EAST OF FA BY 12Z. SOME MOISTURE MAY
LINGER BEHIND FRONT...WILL GO WITH ISOLATED POPS IN THE SOUTH/EAST
PORTIONS. TAKING CLDS/CAA INTO ACCT...MAY ONLY RISE 3-5 DEGREES FROM
12Z TEMPS...WILL GO WITH LOW 50S IN SOUTH AND NEAR 50 IN THE NORTH.
FOR SAT NIGHT...TEMPS WILL REACH FREEZING LEVELS NORTHERN HALF OF FA.

EXTENDED...ECMWF DEPICTS A DECENT TROF IN THE CENTRAL US BY 12Z TUE
WHILE UKMET AND MRF HAVE FLAT FLOW FOR REGION WITH LOW POPS. ATTM...
BELIEVE THE LATTER SOLUTION.

18

LCH WE 062/070 050/054 033  545
LFT WE 061/070 055/057 034  545
AEX WE 059/068 045/050 029  656
BPT WE 063/071 049/053 034  545

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 7, 8:03 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Acadia	3 hr
Jan 7, 10:20 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Evangeline, Saint Landry	3 hr
Jan 7, 10:20 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Lafayette, Saint Martin	3 hr
Jan 7, 11:04 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Acadia, Jefferson Davis	2 hr
Jan 7, 1:30 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Acadia, Evangeline, Jefferson Davis	3 hr
Jan 7, 1:30 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Lafayette, Saint Landry, Saint Martin	3 hr
Jan 7, 3:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes 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.