Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 41, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 13, 1999Tyler County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Mar 13, 1999, 2:26 AM CST for Tyler County, Texas. It was in force for 64 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 13, 1999, 2:26 AM CST (08:26 UTC)
Expired: Mar 13, 1999, 3:30 AM CST
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Tyler County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:28 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 12, 10:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr
Mar 13, 2:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 892 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 213 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 327 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 9.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KLCH 130828 RRA
TORLCH
TXC457-130930-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
226 AM CST SAT MAR 13 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  TYLER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS

* UNTIL 330 AM CST

* AT 225 AM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF WOODVILLE OR 4 MILES WEST OF
  DOUCETTE MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR
  DOUCETTE BY 235 AM CST
  COLMESNEIL BY 245 AM 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 13, 1:15 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 1:15 AM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
115 AM CST SAT MAR 13 1999

SHORT TERM...SVR WX/HVY RAINFALL GOOD BET ACROSS ENTIRE CWA UNTIL
FRONT PASSES. CURRENTLY COMPUTED LI -4 OR GREATER...HELICITY VALUES
NEAR 350 AND CAPE BETWEEN 1200-1600 OVER SW LA AND SE TX. WILL FOLLOW
MESO ETA SOLUTION FOR PASSAGE OF FRONT...WHICH SHOULD BE NEAR BPT AT
12Z...AEX TO LFT LINE AT 15Z AND EAST OF CWA AROUND 18Z.

GOOD CAA BEHIND FRONT WILL DROP TEMPS DURING THE DAY. 540 THICKNESS
DROPS INTO LAKES AREA OF TX ACROSS CENTRAL LA BY 12Z SUN. WILL KEEP
CLOUDS IN FORECAST THRU SUN AFTN AS THIS WILL BE THE TIME 850 TROF
MOVES EAST OF AREA AND LOWER RH MOVES IN.

COASTAL FLOOD WATCH WILL BE DROPPED AS TIDES RUNNING BELOW CRITICAL
LEVELS AND NEXT HIGH TIDES WILL NOT OCCUR UNTIL AFT WINDS HAVE
SHIFTED TO THE NW.

BPT CE 68 (FALL 57)/43/53/34 6(EARLY)000
LCH CE 66 (FALL 56)/43/53/33 8(EARLY)000
LFT CE 65 (FALL 57)/45/53/33 9(MORNING)000
AEX CE 62 (FALL 52)/40/50/29 9(MORNING)000

7

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 12, 9:55 PM CST, 4 hours 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
955 PM CST FRI MAR 12 1999

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

0940 PM    CHESTER                   TX   1.00 INCH HAIL
03/12/99   TYLER

Local storm report, Mar 12, 11:07 PM CST, 3 hours 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1107 PM CST FRI MAR 12 1999

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

1035 PM                              TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/99   TYLER

Local storm report, Mar 12, 11:26 PM CST, 3 hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1126 PM CST FRI MAR 12 1999

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

1035 PM    WOODVILLE                 TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/12/99   TYLER                          POWERLINES DOWN

Local storm report, Mar 12, 11:44 PM CST, 2 hours 42 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1144 PM CST FRI MAR 12 1999

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

1132 PM    JASPER                    TX   0.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/99   JASPER

Local storm report, Mar 13, 1:42 AM CST, 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
142 AM CST SAT MAR 13 1999

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

0122 AM    ANACOCO                   LA   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/13/99   VERNON

Local storm report, Mar 13, 2:22 AM CST, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
222 AM CST SAT MAR 13 1999

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

1225 AM    5 N BURKVILLE             TX   WIND DAMAGE
03/13/99   NEWTON                         SEVERAL POWER LINES DOWN
                                          REPORTED BY THE SHERIFFS
                                          DEPARTMENT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 12, 9:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Tyler	62 min
Mar 12, 10:04 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Tyler	66 min
Mar 12, 10:54 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jasper	61 min
Mar 12, 11:43 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Newton	62 min
Mar 13, 12:25 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton	2 hr
Mar 13, 12:25 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Tyler	2 hr
Mar 13, 2:15 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton	3 hr
Mar 13, 2:15 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Tyler	3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.