Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 110, NWS Lake Charles, LA

April 23, 2000Lafayette Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 23, 2000, 3:30 PM CDT for Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 60 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: Apr 23, 2000, 3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)
Expired: Apr 23, 2000, 4:30 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Whole counties

County Lafayette Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:32 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
Apr 23, 3:35 PM CDT	Hail 1	Lafayette, 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
Apr 23, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 110 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 833 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 212 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 332 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

294 
WUUS54 KLCH 232031
SVRLCH
LAC055-232130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
330 PM CDT SUN APR 23 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  LAFAYETTE PARISH IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 430 PM CDT

* AT 327 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAFAYETTE...MOVING EAST AT
  60 MPH.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE
HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND TORRENTIAL RAIN.

CALL 337-477-5285 TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE WEATHER SERVICE.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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 severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 23, 2:30 PM CDT, 1 hour earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 23, 2:30 PM CDT, 1 hour before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
230 PM CDT SUN APR 23 2000

SFC OBSERVATIONS INDICATE DRYLINE FROM DFW EXTENDING SOUTH TO
WACO TO AUSTIN TO SAN ANTONIO. TEMPERATURES HAVE REBOUNDED WELL
INTO THE UPPER 80S TO MID 90 NEAR DRYLINE. MOISTURE CONTINUES TO
STREAM IN FROM THE GULF WITH DEWPOINTS INTO THE LOWER 70S. SATELLITE
IMAGERY SHOWING CONVECTION FIRING UP ALONG THE DRYLINE AND SHOULD
MOVE RAPIDLY EAST INTO UNSTABLE MOIST ENVIRONMENT OVER SOUTHEAST
TEXAS AND WESTERN LOUISIANA. STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET CONTINUES TO
ENHANCE INFLOW INTO THUNDERSTORMS WITH MOST REACHING SEVERE SHORTLY
AFTER DEVELOPING. WILL KEEP POPS IN UNTIL SIGNIFICANT DRYING OCCURS
OVER AREA. THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER EXISTS UNTIL UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS
MOVES EAST OF AREA. ETA MODEL INDICATES ANOTHER VORT MAX ROTATING
AROUND BASE OF TROUGH INTO CWA WHICH WILL LIKELY AID CONTINUED
DEVELOPMENT ALONG DRYLINE. THE RUC MODEL INDICATES STRONG 500 MB
VORT LOBE WILL WORK INTO AREA IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

MOST ACTIVITY SHOULD END BEFORE MIDNIGHT ACROSS THE WESTERN PART OF
THE AREA BUT WILL LINGER INTO THE NIGHT ACROSS THE EAST. RAPID
DRYING TAKES PLACE AS WINDS SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST WITH THE COOL
FRONT WHICH MOVES THROUGH MOST OF THE AREA LATE TONIGHT.

THE START OF THE NEW WEEK SHOULD USHER IN DRIER AIR WITH
TEMPERATURES NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS OF LOWER 80S. WILL KEEP COASTAL
ADVISORY UP THROUGH THE NIGHT AS WINDS STAY UP.

MOS TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE SO WILL ONLY MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS.

.LCH...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ATCHAFALAYA RIVER LA TO HIGH ISLAND TX
LA...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ450-455-470-475
TX...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY GMZ450-470

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
LCH 62/85/57/85 3000
LFT 61/84/57/81 3000
AEX 61/80/55/79 3000
BPT 62/87/59/84 3000

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 23, 9:37 AM CDT, 5 hours 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
937 AM CDT SUN APR 23 2000

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

0935 AM    5 N LEESVILLE             LA   1.75 INCH HAIL
04/23/00   VERNON

22

Local storm report, Apr 23, 9:45 AM CDT, 5 hours 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
945 AM CDT SUN APR 23 2000

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

0825 AM    WILDWOOD                  TX   .75 INCH HAIL
04/23/00   HARDIN                         REPORTED BY PUBLIC

22

Local storm report, Apr 23, 12:34 PM CDT, 2 hours 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
1234 PM CDT SUN APR 23 2000

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

1215 PM    2 N MARKSVILLE            LA   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/23/00   AVOYELLES                 REPORTED BY COOP OBSERVER

22

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 23, 9:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vernon	45 min
Apr 23, 12:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Avoyelles	55 min
Apr 23, 2:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Vermilion	54 min
Apr 23, 3:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Saint Martin	68 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.