Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 37, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 8, 1999Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Mar 8, 1999, 10:41 PM CST for Saint Landry Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 29 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
Mar 8, 1999, 10:41 PM CST (04:41 UTC)
Expired
Mar 8, 1999, 11:10 PM CST
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Saint Landry Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:43 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Mar 8, 5:00 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr
Mar 8, 10:30 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 126 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-03-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 941 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-03-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 399 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
941 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
399 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
475 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.9
Supercell composite
14.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 090449 COR
TORLCH
LAC097-090510-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1041 PM CST MON MAR 8 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ST. LANDRY PARISH IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 1110 PM CST

* AT 1037 PM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
  INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 15 MILES NORTH OF OPELOUSAS OR 4
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF LE MOYEN MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR
  LE MOYEN BY 1110 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 Mar 8, 8:34 PM CST, 2 hours 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 8:34 PM CST, 2 hours 7 minutes before
SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
834 PM CST MON MAR 8 1999

WITH 8 PM TEMPERATURES AT LUFKIN AT 57 DEGREES...LOOKS LIKE LOWS IN
HARDIN...TYLER...JASPER...AND NEWTON COUNTIES TEXAS WILL FALL TO
BETWEEN 45 AND 50 TONIGHT.  PRECIPITATION IS ALSO DIMINISHING IN THE
SAME AREA SO NEED TO LOWER POPS FROM CURRENT 90 PERCENT THERE.

MINOR COSMETIC CHANGES NEEDED ELSEWHERE IN ZONES.

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.