Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 46, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 4, 1999Vernon Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Apr 4, 1999, 4:05 PM CDT for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 55 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: Apr 4, 1999, 4:05 PM CDT (21:05 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 1999, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Vernon Parish, LA

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:05 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
Apr 4, 4:05 PM CDT	Hail 2	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
Apr 4, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 110 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: 1364 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 162 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 7.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KLCH 042106 RRA
TORLCH
LAC115-042200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
405 PM CDT SUN APR 4 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 500 PM CDT

* AT 402 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTH OF LEESVILLE OR 3 MILES SOUTH
  OF NEW LLANO MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR
  LEESVILLE BY 410 PM CDT
  NORTHERN FORT POLK BY 415 PM CDT
  SLAGLE BY 430 PM CDT

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.

ERICKSON

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 Apr 4, 2:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 4, 2:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before

SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
244 PM CDT SUN APR 4 1999

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WATCH IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS SE TX AND WSTRN
LA THROUGH EARLY EVENING...

...FFA REMAINING IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF SE TX/CNTRL AND SW LA
TONIGHT...

19Z SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS WK STNRY BNDRY OVER E/SE TX WHICH PROVIDED
FOCUS FOR OVERNIGHT HEAVY RAINFALL.  CONUS IR STLT LOOP SHOWS LARGE
TROF OVER WSTRN U.S. AGAIN TODAY WITH LITTLE MOVEMENT. NEXT S/WV
OVER AZ/NM ROUNDING BASE OF UPPER LEVEL TROF.

MODELS IN GEN AGREEMENT WITH MINOR DIFFERENCES THROUGH 48 HRS. ETA
STILL A BIT PROGRESSIVE THAN OTHER MODELS. PREFER AVN/NGM SOLNS THIS
PKG. COUPLE WK VORT MAXES WILL MOVE ACROSS FA OVERNIGHT AND EARLY
MONDAY. S/WV OVER AZ/NM WILL MOVE EASTWARD TONIGHT AS SFC LOW
DEVELOPS IN WEST TEXAS.SFC LOW WILL MOVE INTO OK/KS WITH CF PUSHING
ACROSS E TX INTO LA MONDAY AFTERNOON. PER SWODY2...SLIGHT CHANCE OF
SVR WX OVER N LA AND AR. ATTM...MAIN DYNAMICS WILL BE NORTH OF FA.

OTHER CONCERN WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL. MODELS DIVERGE IN QPF SOLNS. PWS
WILL REMAIN NR 1.6 INCHES AND DEWPOINTS IN THE 70S. FFG REMAINS LOW
OVER INLAND SE TX/CENTRAL LA AND PORTIONS OF SW LA. ANY ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING. MOST SOLNS HAVE AROUND 1 INCH
WITH LOCALLY 2 INCHES POSSIBLE. BELIEVE NEXT SYSTEM WILL HAVE GREAT
ENOUGH PUSH TO MOVE THROUGH FA AND NOT STALL LIKE PREVIOUS SYSTEM.
SOMEWHAT DRIER AIR WILL FILTER IN BEHIND CF LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND
TUESDAY.

ADJUST 1ST PD TEMPS UPWARD...OTHERWISE FOLLOWED CLOSELY. MOS POPS TOO
LOW.

13

LCH WB 069/079/062/078 061 4520
LFT WB 069/080/060/079 061 4430
AEX WB 068/079/060/078 059 6520
BPT WB 069/080/060/079 061 4520

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 4, 11:25 AM CDT, 4 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1125 AM CDT SUN APR 4 1999

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

0950 PM    8 SE WOODVILLE            TX   FLOODING
04/04/99   TYLER                          HIGHWAY 1943 CLOSED DUE TO
                                          FLOODING.

0950 PM    6 SE NEWTON               TX   FLOODING
04/04/99   NEWTON                         HIGHWAY 363 AND 1414 CLOSED
                                          DUE TO FLOODING.

0950 PM    DERIDDER                  LA   FLOODING
04/04/99   BEAUREGARD                     WIDESPREAD FLOODING WITH
                                          NUMEROUS PRIMARY AND
                                          SECONDARY ROADS CLOSED DUE
                                          TO FLOODING.

Local storm report, Apr 4, 11:25 AM CDT, 4 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1125 AM CDT SUN APR 4 1999

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

0950 PM    8 SE WOODVILLE            TX   FLOODING
04/04/99   TYLER                          HIGHWAY 1943 CLOSED DUE TO
                                          FLOODING.

0950 PM    6 SE NEWTON               TX   FLOODING
04/04/99   NEWTON                         HIGHWAY 363 AND 1414 CLOSED
                                          DUE TO FLOODING.

0950 PM    DERIDDER                  LA   FLOODING
04/04/99   BEAUREGARD                     WIDESPREAD FLOODING WITH
                                          NUMEROUS PRIMARY AND
                                          SECONDARY ROADS CLOSED DUE
                                          TO FLOODING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 1:23 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Rapides, Vernon	3 hr
Apr 4, 1:23 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Beauregard	3 hr
Apr 4, 4:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	65 min
Apr 4, 7:58 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard, Rapides, Vernon	2 hr
Apr 4, 7:58 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Avoyelles, Evangeline	2 hr
Apr 4, 10:30 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Beauregard	4 hr
Apr 4, 3:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	61 min
Apr 4, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	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.