Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 59, NWS Lake Charles, LA

May 27, 1999Jasper County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1999, 5:58 PM CDT for Jasper County, Texas. It was in force for 47 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
May 27, 1999, 5:58 PM CDT (22:58 UTC)
Expired
May 27, 1999, 6:45 PM CDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Jasper County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:00 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 27, 6:15 PM CDTTornado F0Kirbyville, 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 27, 5:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 105 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 12:00Z on 1999-05-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 421 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 12:00Z on 1999-05-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 2 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
421 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-117 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1097 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 27, 2:05 PM CDT, 3 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:05 PM CDT, 3 hours 53 minutes before
SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA/SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
205 PM CDT THU MAY 27 1999

LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS DIFFUSE FRONTAL BOUNDARY REMAINING
STATIONARY ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA WITH SFC TROF NEAR
COAST. SAT/RADAR SHOWING A FEW SHWRS ALONG SEA BREEZE/WEAK SFC
BOUNDARY ALONG IMMEDIATE SE TX/SW LA COAST AS WELL AS CLDS ASSOC WITH
THE WEAK SFC FRONT IN EXTREME NORTHERN FA. H5 LOW MOVING SLOWLY
EASTWARD ALONG RED RIVER VALLEY WITH WEAK S/WV ROTATING THROUGH EAST-
CENTRAL TX.

SHORT TERM...FCST CONCERN IS POPS. MODELS/MANUAL PROGS BRING WEAK SFC
FRONT DOWN TO NEAR THE COAST TNGT. ETA LOOKS GOOD AT LEAST IN THE
SHORT TERM WITH PLACEMENT OF UPPER LOW IN SOUTH-CENTRAL OK AND S/WV IN
EASTERN TX MOVING THRU CENTRAL LA BY 00Z. WITH S/WVS AND WEAK SFC
BOUNDARIES BEING THE MAIN FOCUSING MECHANISMS...DO NOT EXPECT
WIDESPREAD PCPN COVERAGE. WILL STAY CLOSE TO NGM GUIDANCE POPS AND
GO WITH 40 SOUTH AND 30 NORTH TNGT. FOR TEMPS...WILL STAY CLOSE TO
LAST NIGHTS MINS.

FRI...SFC FRONT PROGGED TO STALL/DISSIPATE ALONG COAST. MODELS WEAKEN
UPPER LOW AS IT MOVES ACROSS THE OZARKS WITH VORT LOBE MOVING ACROSS
FA FRI AFT. WITH MEAN RH OF 70%...LIMITED THETA RIDGING AND WEAK
LIFT...MAJOR PCPN EVENT THAT REGION NEEDS BADLY NOT IN CARDS. WILL
ONCE AGAIN STAY CLOSE GUIDANCE...GOING WITH 40 FOR SOUTH AND 30 FOR
NORTH 2ND PERIOD. FOR TEMPS...SOME SCT CLD CVR LIKELY IN AM AND WILL
BUMP NGM TEMPS UP 2-3 TO REFLECT THIS.

FRI NIGHT THRU SAT NIGHT...SFC HIGH PRES WILL MOVE NEAR ATL
COAST LATE SAT WITH SOUTHERLY FLOW RETURNING. WEAKENING H5 TROF MOVES
NE ALONG WITH BEST LIFT. AVN DEPICTS A COUPLE OF WEAK S/WVS MOVING
THRU FA FRI NIGHT/SAT. WILL GO WITH SLIGHTLY ABOVE CLIMO POPS FOR
3RD/4TH PERIODS. TEMPS WILL RUN CLOSE TO PERSISTENCE.

EXTENDED...MRF TAKES NEXT PAC H5 TROF AND DIGS IT OFF SOCAL MON WITH
S/WV TROF ALONG THE FRONT RANGE. NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN WX WITH
SCT AFT SHWRS/TSTMS THRU MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.

PRELIM CCFS:

LCH EE 069/086 068/086 069 4433
LFT EE 068/086 067/085 067 4433
AEX EE 065/084 063/084 064 3322
BPT EE 070/086 069/085 069 4433
INTERIOR SE TX ZONES: EE 066/085 065/085 066 3322

18

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 27, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 28 minutes before
LAZ030>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ215-216-280200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
230 PM CDT THU MAY 27 1999

...MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS DEVELOPING ACROSS COASTAL
SOUTHEAST TEXAS AS WELL AS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

PERSISTENT HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION THIS SPRING HAS CAUSED
EXTREMELY DRY CONDITIONS TO DEVELOP ACROSS COASTAL SOUTHEAST TEXAS
AS WELL AS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA. THE LATEST SOIL
MOISTURE INDICIES SHOW MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS FOR SOUTHEAST
TEXAS AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...AND SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS FOR
SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR THIS YEAR TO DATE ARE GENERALLY 5 TO 10 INCHES
BELOW NORMAL WITH PORTIONS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA AS MUCH AS 12
INCHES BELOW NORMAL. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE
OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...BUT THIS RAINFALL IS NOT LIKELY TO PROVIDE
RELIEF FROM THE DROUGHT CONDITIONS. SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS WILL
BECOME SIMILAR TO THE SPRING 1998 DROUGHT.

LONGER RANGE CLIMATE PREDICTIONS INDICATE NEAR NORMAL RAINFALL
PROJECTED FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS. WITH RAINFALL DEFICITS AS HIGH AS 12
INCHES...THE REGION IS LIKELY TO REMAIN IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS
THROUGH THE SUMMER.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OR RADIO
FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS DROUGHT EVENT. ADDITIONAL
WEATHER INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE OBTAINED THROUGH OUR HOME PAGE AT
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/LCH.

ALLEN
Special weather statement, May 27, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 28 minutes before
LAZ030>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ215-216-280200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
230 PM CDT THU MAY 27 1999

...MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS DEVELOPING ACROSS COASTAL
SOUTHEAST TEXAS AS WELL AS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA...

PERSISTENT HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION THIS SPRING HAS CAUSED
EXTREMELY DRY CONDITIONS TO DEVELOP ACROSS COASTAL SOUTHEAST TEXAS
AS WELL AS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA. THE LATEST SOIL
MOISTURE INDICIES SHOW MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS FOR SOUTHEAST
TEXAS AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...AND SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS FOR
SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR THIS YEAR TO DATE ARE GENERALLY 5 TO 10 INCHES
BELOW NORMAL WITH PORTIONS OF SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA AS MUCH AS 12
INCHES BELOW NORMAL. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE
OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS...BUT THIS RAINFALL IS NOT LIKELY TO PROVIDE
RELIEF FROM THE DROUGHT CONDITIONS. SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS WILL
BECOME SIMILAR TO THE SPRING 1998 DROUGHT.

LONGER RANGE CLIMATE PREDICTIONS INDICATE NEAR NORMAL RAINFALL
PROJECTED FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS. WITH RAINFALL DEFICITS AS HIGH AS 12
INCHES...THE REGION IS LIKELY TO REMAIN IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS
THROUGH THE SUMMER.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...COMMERCIAL TELEVISION OR RADIO
FOR LATER STATEMENTS CONCERNING THIS DROUGHT EVENT. ADDITIONAL
WEATHER INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE OBTAINED THROUGH OUR HOME PAGE AT
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/LCH.

ALLEN
Local storm report, May 27, 5:28 PM CDT, 30 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
528 PM CDT THU MAY 27 1999

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

0500 PM    RAYNE                     LA   FUNNEL CLOUD
05/27/99   ACADIA                         FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED BY
                                          PUBLIC.
Local storm report, May 27, 5:55 PM CDT, 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
555 PM CDT THU MAY 27 1999

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

0544 PM    LEESVILLE                 LA   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/27/99   VERNON                         QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          BY SHERRIFF.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 27, 5:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHJasper63 min
May 27, 6:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCHNewton61 min
May 27, 6:27 PM CDTTornado WarningLCHNewton63 min

Nearby

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