Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 57, NWS Lake Charles, LA

July 23, 2002Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 23, 2002, 7:01 PM CDT for Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 59 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 23, 2002, 7:01 PM CDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired: Jul 23, 2002, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Calcasieu Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:05 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 16 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: 3409 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1205 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

525 
WUUS54 KLCH 240001
SVRLCH
LAC019-240100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
659 PM CDT TUE JUL 23 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CALCASIEU PARISH IN SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 659 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 2 MILES WEST OF IOWA...MOVING SOUTH AT 5 MPH.

* THIS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
  LAKE CHARLES BY 715 PM CDT
  SULPHUR BY 718 PM CDT
  HOLMWOOD BY 725 PM CDT

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.

LAT...LON 3038 9304 3039 9341 3009 9337 3005 9299
          3010 9299 3010 9291 3015 9291 3016 9301
          3025 9300 3026 9304

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 Jul 23, 4:35 PM CDT, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 4:35 PM CDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before

SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
435 PM CDT TUE JUL 23 2002

LOOKS LIKE A REPEAT OF LAST NIGHT MAY BE SETTING UP ACROSS THE
REGION WITH THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY DEVELOPING A LITTLE EARLIER THAN
EXPECTED.

THE FOCUS OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL LIKELY OCCUR WHERE
NUMEROUS OUTFLOWS CONVERGE AND SIGNIFICANT LIFT OCCURS.

THE STRONGEST OUTFLOW CONVERGENCE NEAR ALLEN AND BEAUREGARD
PARISHES WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF STRONG THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT
INITIALLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH FUTURE DEVELOPMENT EXPECTED FURTHER
SOUTH AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES.

WILL UPDATE THE ZONES ACCORDINGLY.

.LCH...NONE.

.UPDATED NUMBERS...
       WE    TH    FR SA   T W T F
BPT 74/94 75/94 76/94 77  4313242
LCH 75/94 74/93 76/93 77  4413342
LFT 75/94 76/94 75/93 77  2425252
AEX 74/93 74/92 74/95 76  4425341

MAYEAUX/ALLEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 23, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jefferson Davis	27 min
Jul 24, 9:06 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	LCH		54 min
Jul 24, 3:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Beauregard	42 min
Jul 24, 4:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	63 min
Jul 24, 4:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Allen, Beauregard	37 min
Jul 24, 6:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia, Lafayette, Saint Martin	38 min
Jul 24, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Iberia, Lafayette, Saint Martin	34 min
Jul 24, 6:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Acadia, Lafayette, Vermilion	41 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.