Alert archive / Texas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Lake Charles, LA

November 18, 2003Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this tornado warning at Nov 18, 2003, 12:21 AM CST for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 24 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: Nov 18, 2003, 12:21 AM CST (06:21 UTC)
Expired: Nov 18, 2003, 12:45 AM CST
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Jefferson County, TX

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:24 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Nov 17, 11:50 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 877 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 200 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.2
Supercell composite: 7.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KLCH 180621
TORLCH
TXC245-180645-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
1220 AM CST TUE NOV 18 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 1245 AM CST

* AT 1219 AM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF 
  NOME...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THIS TORNADIC STORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CHINA BY 1225 AM CST

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME - TAKE COVER NOW. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU 
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO - IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW

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

LAT...LON 3000 9449 2987 9434 3007 9408 3011 9437

$$

LGE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 17, 8:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton	65 min
Nov 17, 10:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Hardin	65 min
Nov 17, 10:50 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Hardin, Tyler	4 hr
Nov 17, 11:09 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Tyler	36 min
Nov 17, 11:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jasper, Newton	49 min
Nov 18, 12:11 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Tyler	34 min
Nov 18, 12:26 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Newton	34 min
Nov 18, 12:47 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LCH	Jefferson	28 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Texas, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.