Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 56, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 25, 1999Jasper County, Tyler County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1999, 5:33 PM CDT for Jasper County, Tyler County, Texas. It was in force for 42 min. 4 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: May 25, 1999, 5:33 PM CDT (22:33 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1999, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Jasper County, TX, Tyler County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:33 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
May 25, 5:35 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Town Bluff, TX
May 25, 5:40 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Woodville, TX
May 25, 5:40 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Jasper, TX
May 25, 5:45 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Jasper, TX

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, 10.6 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: 348 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -129 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1155 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLCH 252233 RRA
TORLCH
TXC241-457-252315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
533 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* AT 531 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 13 MILES
  EAST OF WOODVILLE OR 1 MILE SOUTHWEST OF STEINHAGEN LAKE MOVING
  EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR
  STEINHAGEN LAKE BY 535 PM CDT
  JASPER BY 605 PM CDT


THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. GO T\O A
SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS AND
DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDIER BUILDING
OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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 May 25, 2:20 PM CDT, 3 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 25, 2:20 PM CDT, 3 hours 13 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA/SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
220 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 1999

STLT WV/IR SHOWING CONVECTION ASSOC WITH S/WV FM E TX TO CEN AND
S CEN LA. LATEST ETA HAS BEST OMEGA/UVV OVR CEN LA THIS EVE SO WL
GO FOR LINGERING EVE TSTMS FOR CEN LA ZNS...OTHERWISE ETA GIVES
AREA A BREAK WITH NVA TNITE. DEW PTS HIR THAN MOS WITH SFC ANALYSIS
SHOWING MOIST AXIS ALG COAST AS WEAK WM FNT LIFTS INTO CEN LA.
BOTH ETA AND NGM PROG ANOTHER S/WV FOR MID-DAY WED WITH NGM A BIT
STGR ON THE UVV. MOIST AXIS SHUD AGAIN BE IN PLACE AS ETA SHOWS
GOOD THETA RDGG WED AT 18Z SO WL GO WITH MOS FOR SCT TSTMS...
BETTER CHC OVR CEN LA WHERE MAIN BRUNT OF S/WV HEADS FM RED RVR
OF TX INTO CEN LA WITH ASSOC MDT INSTABILITIES. COULD HAVE GONE
WARMER ON WED...HWVR CLOUD COVER SHUD HELP KEEP TEMPS CLOSER TO
MOS.
...EXTENDED...MRF SHOWS RDG TRANSITING EWD OUT OF TX ON THURS TO
THE LWR MS VLY ON FRI...HWVR NEG TILTED S/WV OUT OF E TX FRI
MORNING SHUD GIVE US OUR NEXT BEST SHOT AT RAIN ON FRI. MRF
THEN ESTABLISHES RDG OVR CEN GULF THIS WEEKEND WITH A WK RETURN
FLO AND A FEW SHWRS...MAINLY SEABREEZE TYPE. RDG BUILDS OVR TX
EARLY NEXT WEEK WHITH TROFS PLUNGING S THRU THE MS VLY BY WED FOR
SCT TSTMS...TROF DEEPENS INTO A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRES OVR THE
GULF LATE NEXT WEEK...LOOKS LIKE A GOOD RAIN PRODUCER.
11
BPT EE 074/087 069/085 069 031
LCH EE 072/087 068/085 068 031
LFT EE 069/088 067/086 067 031
AEX EE 064/083 063/083 065 152

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 25, 5:21 PM CDT, 12 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
521 PM CDT TUE MAY 25 1999

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

0510 PM    10 W OF JASPER            TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/25/99   JASPER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 4:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jasper	63 min
May 25, 4:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Tyler	64 min
May 25, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton	65 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.