Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Lake Charles, LA

January 22, 1999Beauregard Parish, Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 22, 1999, 10:26 AM CST for Beauregard Parish, Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 64 min. 2 reports 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 22, 1999, 10:26 AM CST (16:26 UTC)
Expired: Jan 22, 1999, 11:30 AM CST
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Beauregard Parish, LA, Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:27 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 22, 10:40 AM CST	Tornado F0	Evans, LA
Jan 22, 11:02 AM CST	Hail 1.75	Leesville, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jan 22, 9:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 2024 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 561 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 249 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 9.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 221626 RRA
TORLCH
LAC011-115-221730-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1026 AM CST FRI JAN 22 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BEAUREGARD PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA
  VERNON PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 1130 AM CST

* AT 1023 AM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
  INDICATED A TORNADO 35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LEESVILLE OR 17 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF EVANS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR
  MERRYVILLE BY 1040 AM CST
  EVANS BY 1045 AM CST
  BURR FERRY BY 1055 AM CST
  CANEY BY 1105 AM CST
  LEESVILLE BY 1110 AM CST

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE DURING A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY. GO TO THE NEAREST REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST
RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER
YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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 22, 9:50 AM CST, 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 22, 9:50 AM CST, 36 minutes before

SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
950 AM CST FRI JAN 22 1999

BUSY MORNING ACROSS LCH FA...PER SPS TORNADO WATCH 30 IN EFFECT
UNTIL 22Z (400 PM) FOR ALL OF SOUTH/CENTRAL LA AND ADJACENT COASTAL
WATERS. 88-D SHOWING WEAKER BAND OF TSRA MOVING OUT OF FA WITH NEXT
LINE OF STRONG TSRA DEVELOPING OVER TYLER...HARDIN...AND JEFFERSON
COUNTIES. 12Z LCH SOUNDING SHOWING LI AT -10...LLVL JET CONTINUES TO
PUMP COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF MSTR INTO LA...PW NR 1.6. VWP INDICATING
UNIDIRECTIONAL SHEAR WITH LLVL JET NR 50 KT AT 1K FT. IR LOOP SHOWS
UPPER LVL LOW OVER CENTRAL TX. AS JET MAX  ROTATES ACROSS MODERATELY
UNSTABLE AIRMASS THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON...EXPECT TO SEE OUTBREAK
OF SVR WEATHER.

FOR SE TX...NEED TO UPDATE ZONES TO TAKE OUT EXPIRED WW. SEND CHANGES
IN WORK ZONES SHORTLY.

FOR LA...NEED TOR WATCH.

13

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 21, 7:48 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Rapides	47 min
Jan 22, 11:31 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides, Vernon	64 min
Jan 22, 11:37 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Avoyelles	63 min
Jan 22, 12:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Saint Landry	63 min
Jan 22, 1:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Acadia	65 min
Jan 22, 1:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Saint Landry	61 min
Jan 22, 2:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Lafayette	64 min
Jan 22, 2:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia	62 min
Jan 22, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	St. Mary	61 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.