Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 8, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Jan 2, 1999, 1:55 AM CST for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 65 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
- Jan 2, 1999, 1:55 AM CST (07:55 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 2, 1999, 3:00 AM CST
- In force
- 65 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Calcasieu Parish, LA
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:56 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2, 2:30 AM CST | Tornado F2 | Hayes, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1, 11:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 19 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 437 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -7 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 704 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 202 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 238 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 2.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
999 WFUS1 KLCH 020756 RRA TORLCH LAC019-020900- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 155 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CALCASIEU PARISH IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA * UNTIL 300 AM CST * AT 154 AM CST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 13 MILES WEST OF LAKE CHARLES OR 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF SULPHUR MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. * TORNADO WILL BE NEAR SULPHUR BY 156 AM CST PERKINS BY 200 AM CST MOSS BLUFF BY 210 AM CST GILLIS BY 215 AM CST THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL. 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 Jan 1, 7:15 PM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 1, 7:15 PM CST, 6 hours 40 minutes before
SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 715 PM CST FRI JAN 1 1999 CURRENT SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS WARM FRONT FROM NORTH-CENTRAL TX EXTENDING INTO NORTHERN LA WITH COLD FRONT ENTERING WESTERN TX. KLCH 88D SHOWING ISOLATED SHWRS IN NEWTON/JASPER COUNTIES WITH A NARROW LINE OF SHWRS MIGRATING THRU ALLEN...EVANGELINE AND RAPIDES PARISHES. ATTM...LITTLE OR NO TSTM ACTIVITY IN SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL LA AS WELL AS SOUTHEAST TX. 00Z LCH SOUNDING FAIRLY UNSTABLE WITH CAPES OF 675 J/KG AND LI OF -3. SHEAR PROFILE A BIT MORE PRONOUNCED WITH SR HELICITY OF 235 AND DIR SHEAR OF 85 DEG. SHORT-TERM SEVERE THREAT NORTH OF FA...SPC ISSUING NEW TOR WATCH BOX ELIMINATING LCH FA FROM WATCH AREA. POTENTIAL OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT WITH THE APPROACHING COLD FRONT. TIMING OF FROPA AND TEMPS LOOK GOOD WITH NO CHANGES RECOMMENDED. 18 LCH BU 062/064 033/047 9600 LFT BU 062/068 032/048 6600 AEX BU 058/062 031/046 8500 BPT BU 060/063 032/047 9400
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jan 2, 12:02 AM CST, 1 hour 53 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1202 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1155 PM NOME TX WIND DAMAGE
01/01/99 JEFFERSON TREE LIMB FELL ON
RESIDENCE...BREAKING FRONT
WINDOW.Local storm report, Jan 2, 12:02 AM CST, 1 hour 53 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1202 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1155 PM NOME TX WIND DAMAGE
01/01/99 JEFFERSON TREE LIMB FELL ON
RESIDENCE...BREAKING FRONT
WINDOW.Local storm report, Jan 2, 12:11 AM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1211 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0405 AM 3 E IOTA LA WIND DAMAGE
01/02/99 ACADIA SMALL PLANE PICKED UP BY
STRONG WINDS AND THROWN INTO
POWER LINES NEAR THE
AIRPORT. REPORTED BY REED
AVIATION AND SHERRIFFS
OFFICE.Local storm report, Jan 2, 1:27 AM CST, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
127 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1240 AM BUNA TX TORNADO
01/02/99 JASPER TORNADO TOUCHDOWN...SEVERAL
HOUSES DAMAGED. POSSIBLE
INJURIES.
0116 AM DEWEYVILLE TX WIND DAMAGE
01/02/99 NEWTON DAMAGE TO BARN. SEVERAL
TREES DOWN.
1151 PM KOUNTZE z TX WIND DAMAGE
01/01/99 HARDIN SEVERAL TREES DOWN.Local storm report, Jan 2, 1:27 AM CST, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
127 AM CST SAT JAN 2 1999
TIME(CST) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1240 AM BUNA TX TORNADO
01/02/99 JASPER TORNADO TOUCHDOWN...SEVERAL
HOUSES DAMAGED. POSSIBLE
INJURIES.
0116 AM DEWEYVILLE TX WIND DAMAGE
01/02/99 NEWTON DAMAGE TO BARN. SEVERAL
TREES DOWN.
1151 PM KOUNTZE z TX WIND DAMAGE
01/01/99 HARDIN SEVERAL TREES DOWN.The office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2, 12:51 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Calcasieu | 64 min |
| Jan 2, 1:16 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Beauregard | 64 min |
| Jan 2, 1:53 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Cameron | 62 min |
| Jan 2, 2:06 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Allen | 64 min |
| Jan 2, 2:38 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Jefferson Davis | 62 min |
| Jan 2, 3:04 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Acadia | 66 min |
| Jan 2, 3:32 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Avoyelles | 63 min |
| Jan 2, 3:45 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Saint Landry | 65 min |
| Jan 2, 4:18 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Lafayette | 47 min |
| Jan 2, 4:29 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Vermilion | 66 min |
| Jan 2, 4:53 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | Iberia | 67 min |
| Jan 2, 5:20 AM CST | Tornado Warning | LCH | St. Mary | 65 min |
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.