Alert archive / Louisiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 12, 2003Rapides Parish, Louisiana

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 12, 2003, 3:32 PM CST for Rapides Parish, Louisiana. It was in force for 28 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: Mar 12, 2003, 3:32 PM CST (21:32 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 2003, 4:00 PM CST
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Rapides Parish, LA

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 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 596 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 456 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 96 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.

000 
WUUS54 KLCH 122132
SVRLCH
LAC079-122200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
327 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  RAPIDES PARISH IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA

* UNTIL 400 PM CST

* AT 323 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF PINEVILLE...MOVING        
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THIS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
  
  DEVILLE BY 335 PM CST
  EXTRME NORTHEAST RAPIDES PARISH THROUGH 400 PM

THIS THUNDERSTORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING HAIL UP TO BASEBALL AND
BREAKING CAR WINDOWS. TAKE COVER NOW

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

LAT...LON 3140 9245 3127 9230 3142 9216 3147 9218
          3145 9230

$$

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 Mar 12, 12:45 PM CST, 2 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 12:45 PM CST, 2 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
12:45 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003

.TONIGHT...
A FEW EVENING SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. OTHERWISE, THE
OVERNIGHT MINIMUMS WILL BE RUNNING ABOUT 10 F DEGREES ABOVE THE
BENCHMARK NORMALS.

ALSO, FOG WILL BE A PROBLEM. THE MESO-ETA COMPUTES A COASTAL FRONT
FORMING OVERNIGHT. ACCUMULATING GULF MOISTURE WILL SUSTAIN AREAS OF
FOG OVER THE COASTAL MARSHES AND I-10 PRAIRIES, PATCHY FOG FURTHER
NORTH OVER THE LAKES AND PINEY HILLS REGIONS.

.THURSDAY...
THE MESO-ETA MODEL DEPICTS THE COASTAL FRONT ADVANCING NORTH AND
STALLING OVER THE PINEY HILLS AND LAKES REGIONS. THIS INTERFACE WILL
PERSIST INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS.

MEANWHILE, THE AVN MODEL COMPUTES SIGNIFICANT KINEMATIC AND QUASI
-GEOSTROPHIC OMEGAS OVER THE AFORMENTIONED INTERFACE. SHOWERS OR
THUNDERSTORMS SEEM LIKELY. WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER AT 170 PERCENT OF
NORMAL, I WILL INSERT RAIN HEAVY AT TIMES INTO PACKAGE.

.THURSDAY NIGHT...
SCATTERED EVENING SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. OTHERWISE,
PATCHY RADIATION FOG, DENSE AT TIMES, WILL BE A PROBLEM.

.LCH...NONE.

.PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AEX 58/79/56/78/55/79 263330
BPT 62/77/60/79/59/80 263320
LCH 61/77/59/80/58/80 263320
LFT 60/77/59/78/57/79 263330

TRARES

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 12, 4:00 AM CST, 11 hours 32 minutes before

LAZ027>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ180>182-201-215-216-131100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
400 AM CST WED MAR 12 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...CENTRAL...
SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT...
A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS...COMBINED WITH DAYTIME HEATING WILL
PRODUCE SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. AT
THIS TIME NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

LIGHT WINDS AND HIGH MOISTURE VALUES AT THE SURFACE WILL BRING THE
CHANCE FOR FOG DURING THE OVERNIGHT. FOG MAY BECOME DENSE AT TIMES...
ESPECIALLY NEAR THE COAST.

.DAY TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...
NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN IS EXPECTED THROUGH THE
WEEKEND. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. RIVER FLOODING WILL CONTINUE AT
SOME GAUGE SITES. THOSE WITH INTERESTS NEAR AREA RIVERS SHOULD
MONITOR THE LATEST FLOOD STATEMENTS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.

RUA

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:05 PM CST, 27 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
305 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003

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

0302 PM    ALEXANDRIA                LA   .75 INCH HAIL
03/12/03   RAPIDES                        HAIL COVERING THE GROUND
                                          ABOUT 2 INCHES DEEP

FN

Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:14 PM CST, 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
314 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003

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

0308 PM    PINEVILLE                 LA   1.00 INCH HAIL
03/12/03   RAPIDES                        GOLFBALL HAIL REPORTED BY
                                          CLECO POWER COMPANY

0310 PM    PINEVILLE                 LA   2.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/03   RAPIDES                        BASEBALL SIZE HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY RAPIDES 911.

FN

Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:19 PM CST, 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES, LA
319 PM CST WED MAR 12 2003

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

0314 PM    PINEVILLE                 LA   1.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/03   RAPIDES                        GOLFBALL HAIL AND LOTS OF
                                          BROKEN CAR WINDOWS

0317 PM    PINEVILLE                 LA   2.75 INCH HAIL
03/12/03   RAPIDES                        BASEBALL SIZE HAIL AND CAR
                                          WINDOWS BROKEN. REPORTED BY
                                          PUBLIC.

FN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 12, 2:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Rapides	40 min
Mar 12, 5:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Avoyelles	59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Louisiana, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.