Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 65, NWS Shreveport, LA

May 4, 1999Bossier Parish, Louisiana

NWS Shreveport, LA issued this tornado warning at May 4, 1999, 5:21 PM CDT for Bossier Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 49 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 4, 1999, 5:21 PM CDT (22:21 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1999, 6:10 PM CDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Shreveport, LA
Area
Whole counties

County Bossier Parish, LA

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:22 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 4, 5:28 PM CDTTornado F2Plain Dealing, LATwo mobile homes destroyed and several frame homes suffered roof damage. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. Damage includes timber damage.

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 4, 3:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 26 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1116 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 275 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
1116 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
498 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
275 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
392 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.0
Supercell composite
12.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSHV 042220
TORSHV
LAC015-042310-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
521 PM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN BOSSIER PARISH IN NORTHWESTERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 610 PM CDT

* AT 520 PM CDT... THE SHREVEPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER
  RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR GILLIAM IN NORTHERN CADDO PARISH
  LOUISIANA.  THE THUNDERSTORM CONTAINING THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING
  EAST NORTHEAT NEAR 35 MPH.  THE STORM WILL CROSS THE RED RIVER AND
  AFFECT NORTHERN BOSSIER PARISH BY 525 PM.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PLAIN DEALING BY 545 PM CDT

THIS STORM HAS ALREADY PRODUCED A TORNADO NEAR OIL CITY LOUISIANA.

THIS THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE A TORNADO THAT IS OBSCURED BY
RAIN AND DIFFICULT TO SEE. GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.

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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 4, 3:06 PM CDT, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 3:06 PM CDT, 2 hours 15 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
300 AM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999

CONVECTION CURRENTLY MOVING ACROSS CWA WELL AHEAD OF DRYLINE. MOST
STORMS SHOWING SIGNS OF ROTATION WITH A COUPLE OF TOUCHDOWNS ALREADY
REPORTED. FEEL THIS IS ONLY FIRST SURGE...WITH ANOTHER BEHIND THIS
WHICH WILL KEEP SCATTERED TSTMS GOING INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS
ACROSS TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA COUNTIES...WITH MODELS A LITTLE A LITTLE
FAST.  STORMS MAY CONTINUE UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT EASTERN MOST
LOUISIANA PARISHES. FEEL DRY SURGE BEHIND ALL THIS ACTIVITY WILL END
PRECIP CHANCES..SO WORK ZONES WILL HAVE DRY FORECAST WEDNESDAY
THROUGH THURSDAY. MOS TEMPS LOOK OK..BUT LOWS LOOK TOO COOL
TONIGHT WITH SOUTH WIND CONTAINING THROUGH MOST OF PERIOD.

SHV  64/82/54/77 6110   MLU  67/86/59/80 7110    TXK  62/80/51/74/ 6111
TYR  61/80/51/75 5110   LFK  65/85/54/79 6110

14

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 4, 3:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 35 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
346 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

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

0215 PM    5 SE TALCO                TX   TORNADO
05/04/99   TITUS                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT

0215 PM    6 SE TALCO                TX   TORNADO
05/04/99   TITUS                          *** 1 DEAD ***
                                          TORNADO NEAR BRIDGE CHAPEL
                                          CAUSED DAMAGE. REPORTED BY
                                          S.O.

0300 PM    DE KALB                   TX   TORNADO
05/04/99   BOWIE                          DAMAGE AND INJURIES AND A
                                          CONFIRMED SIGHTING OF
                                          TORNADO REPORTED BY STATE
                                          TROOPER JUST NORTH OF
                                          DE KALB.
03

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 4:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHVCaddo49 min
May 4, 5:04 PM CDTTornado WarningSHVCaddo46 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.