Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 76, NWS Shreveport, LA

May 5, 1999Union Parish, Louisiana

NWS Shreveport, LA issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1999, 6:41 AM CDT for Union Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 1999, 6:41 AM CDT (11:41 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1999, 7:30 AM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Shreveport, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Union Parish, LA

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 144 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:43 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 00:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 135 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: 3185 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 558 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 267 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 270 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 5.4
Supercell composite: 17.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KSHV 051140 RRA
TORSHV
LAC111-051230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
641 AM CDT WED MAY 5 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  UNION PARISH IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 730 AM CDT

* AT AT 640 AM CDT... THE SHREVEPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER
  RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 5 MILES WEST OF TRUXNO.  THE THUNDERSTORM
  CONTAINING THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  NEAR TRUXNO BY 645 AM CDT


IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...GO TO A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING. AS A
LAST RESORT...TAKE COVER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER
YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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 5, 2:50 AM CDT, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 5, 2:50 AM CDT, 3 hours 51 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
250 AM CDT WED MAY 5 1999

STUBBORN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS STILL OCCURRING JUST
NORTHWEST AND NORTH OF SHV. IR SATELLITE SHOWS UPPER LOW SPINNING
OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS WITH LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS OVER TENNESSESS...EASTERN ARKANSAS AND NORTHEAST
LOUISIANA. SURFACE LOW CENTERED OVER NEBRASKA WITH DRY LINE OVER
CENTRAL OKLAHOMA INTO NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. MODELS SHOW 5H LOW
CONTINUEING TO SPIN ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS AND GRADUALLY WORK TO
THE EAST INTO THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES BY THURSDAY NIGHT AS UPPER
RIDGE DEVELOPS OVER THE ROCKIES. SURFACE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE
THROUGH CWA TODAY AND WITH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IN PLACE AND UPPER
LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND JET MAX COMING ACROSS TEXAS SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT IN LOUISIANA
AND ARKANSAS. WITH CAPE VALUES PROGGED TO BE OVER 2000 AND LITTLE
CAP SOME STORMS MAY BE SEVERE IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS AND NORTH
CENTRAL LOUISIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. AS MUCH DRIER
AIR MOVES IN TONIGHT SKIES WILL CLEAR AND TEMPERATURES WILL BE
COOLER. HIGHS SHOULD BE ABOUT 5 DEGREES COOLER THURSDAY.

POPS GUIDANCE SEEM TOO LOW SO WENT HIGHER AND LOWERED MAX TEMPS
SLIGHTLY TODAY AND RAISED TEMPS FOR OTHER PERIODS. BELIEVE MLU MAY
AREA MAY SEE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WELL INTO THIS EVENING. CLOUDY
SKIES THIS MORNING SHOULD BECOME PARTLY CLOUDY TODAY EXCEPT OVER
NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA.

SHV  85/58/79/53 3311   MLU  86/60/80/53 4511   TXK  83/52/77/50 3110
TYR  83/55/78/51 2110   LFK  87/57/80/52 3210

09

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 5, 5:02 AM CDT, 1 hour 39 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
502 AM CDT WED MAY 05 1999

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

0430 AM    LAKE CLAIBORNE            LA   1 INCH HAIL
05/05/99   CLAIBORNE                      FROM S.O.

IV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 7:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caddo	31 min
May 4, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Webster	47 min
May 4, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bienville	65 min
May 4, 10:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Bienville	50 min
May 4, 10:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Lincoln	62 min
May 4, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Ouachita	49 min
May 5, 4:14 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	SHV	Claiborne	61 min
May 5, 6:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Union	56 min
May 5, 2:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caddo	35 min
May 5, 2:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bossier	35 min
May 5, 2:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bossier, Caddo	50 min
May 5, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Webster	47 min
May 5, 3:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	De Soto	50 min
May 5, 3:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bossier, Caddo	50 min
May 5, 4:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Claiborne	47 min
May 5, 4:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Bienville, Webster	47 min
May 5, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Caldwell, Winn	48 min
May 5, 6:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SHV	Ouachita	48 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.