Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 10, NWS Lake Charles, LA
NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 12, 2001, 4:57 PM CDT for Vernon Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 63 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 12, 2001, 4:57 PM CDT (21:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 12, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lake Charles, LA
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Vernon Parish, LA
The radar
The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:00 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 534 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 474 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 86 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
481 WFUS54 KLCH 122157 TORLCH LAC115-122300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 457 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... VERNON PARISH IN WEST CENTRAL LOUISIANA * UNTIL 600 PM CDT * AT 457 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER SOUTH CENTRAL VERNON PARISH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. * THIS TORNADIC STORM WILL BE NEAR... FORT POLK BY 515 PM CDT LACAMP BY 550 PM CDT SIMPSON BY 555 PM CDT THIS TORNADO IS WRAPPED IN RAIN - IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING...IT MAY BE TOO LATE TAKE COVER NOW CALL 337-477-5285 TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE WEATHER SERVICE. LAT...LON 3090 9322 3089 9297 3125 9283 3134 9305
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 Oct 12, 1:46 PM CDT, 3 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 12, 1:46 PM CDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION...COR
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
146 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001
...CORRECTION FOR AEX POP FROM 70 TO 40...
.TONIGHT...
GULF AIR ADVECTION STRENGTHENS. EXPECT INCREASING CLOUDINESS AS GULF
AIR OVERRIDES FILM OF DRIER AIR AT THE SURFACE. THE ATMOSPHERE IS
BEING PRE-CONDITIONED FOR UPCOMING HEAVY RAIN EVENT. INCOMING GULF
AIR SHOULD KEEP MINIMUMS ON THE WARM SIDE (ABOUT 10 TO 15 F DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL).
.SATURDAY...
A HEAVY RAIN EVENT SEEMS LIKELY. STRONG ADIABATIC LIFT WILL BE IN
PLACE. THE NGM TRAJECTORY MODEL COMPUTES A NET VERTICAL DISPLACEMENT
OF THE 700 MB SURFACE AT +80 MB WITHIN A 12 HOUR PERIOD). OTHER
FACTORS NOTED ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA INCLUDE...700-300 MB THICKNESS
DIFLUENCE...700-300 MB QUASI-GEOSTROPHIC LIFT...AND 1000-500 MB MEAN
RH NEAR 90 PERCENT.
MARGINAL INSTABILITY SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY LIMITING FACTOR. THE 700-
300 MB LAPSE RATES ARE RUNNING NEAR 6.5 C DEG PER KM...WHICH IS
MARGINALLY UNSTABLE (FOR A CLOUDY AIR PARCEL UNDERGOING AVERAGE
ENTRAINMENT IN A MOIST ENVIRONMENT).
AFTER TALKING WITH THE SURROUNDING OFFICES...I HAVE DECIDED TO ISSUE
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...AND FOR WEST CENTRAL AND
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. ALSO I WILL ISSUE A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
(HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK) TO COVER THE REMAINDER (EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH
CENTRAL LOUISIANA).
SPECIAL THANKS TO HOUSTON, NEW ORLEANS, SHREVEPORT OFFICES AND TO
THE HYDRO-METEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER.
.LCH...FFA (FLOOD WATCH) TXZ180>182-201-215-216
... LAZ027-030-031-041-042-051
.PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AEX 70/78/55/76/49/73/50 4830000
BPT 73/80/56/77/55/75/58 4800000
LCH 72/80/56/77/53/75/57 4800000
LFT 70/83/58/76/52/73/54 4830000
TRARESIn the hours before
Local storm report, Oct 12, 3:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
346 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0300 PM 5 E SOUR LAKE TX TORNADO
10/12/01 HARDIN A TORNADO WAS SEEN BY
SEVERAL PEOPLE NEAR HWY
105...NO DAMAGED SINCE IT
WAS OVER UNPOPULATED ZONE.
0304 PM 2 W BEVIL OAKS TX TORNADO
10/12/01 JEFFERSON TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR
HWY 105. SEVERAL REPORTS
FROM MOTORISTS.
FNLocal storm report, Oct 12, 3:54 PM CDT, 1 hour 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
354 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0340 PM LUMBERTON TX TORNADO
10/12/01 HARDIN TREES KNOCKED DOWN...NO
INJURIES REPORTED.
FNSpecial weather statement, Oct 12, 3:54 PM CDT, 1 hour 3 minutes before
LAZ028-029-032-033-043>045-052>055-130900- HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 354 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001 ...HEAVY RAINS FOR SATURDAY... AN APPROACHING TEXAS COLD FRONT WILL LIFT A DEEP GULF AIR MASS... THUS GENERATING TROPICAL DOWNPOURS. ALSO SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. AVERAGE RAINFALL TOTALS WILL RANGE BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES...WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS NEAR THREE INCHES. THE RAINS SHOULD BE TAPERING OFF BY LATE AFTERNOON. TRARES
Local storm report, Oct 12, 4:23 PM CDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
423 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0405 PM 2 S EVADALE TX TORNADO
10/12/01 JASPER CONFIRMED TORNADO
TOUCHDOWN BY THE EVADALE
FIRE DEPARTMENT TRAVELING
SOUTH ON HWY 105
FNThe office that day
Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 12, 4:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH | Evangeline, Rapides | 52 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Louisiana, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes in 2001
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.