Alert archive / Louisiana / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 895

December 14, 200513 parishes in Louisiana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 14, 2005, 1:42 PM CST for 13 parishes in Louisiana. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 14, 2005, 1:42 PM CST (19:42 UTC)
Expired: Dec 14, 2005, 8:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Acadia Parish, LA, Allen Parish, LA, Beauregard Parish, LA, Calcasieu Parish, LA, Cameron Parish, LA, Evangeline Parish, LA, Iberia Parish, LA, Jefferson Davis Parish, LA, Lafayette Parish, LA, Saint Landry Parish, LA, Saint Martin Parish, LA, St. Mary Parish, LA, Vermilion Parish, LA

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:44 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.

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 45 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: 931 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 229 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 261 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 141941
SEL5  
SPC WW 141941
LAZ000-CWZ000-150200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 895
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
140 PM CST WED DEC 14 2005

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA
       COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 140 PM UNTIL
800 PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 45 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF LAKE
CHARLES LOUISIANA TO 35 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF LAFAYETTE
LOUISIANA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE
ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU5).

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 894...

DISCUSSION...MCS INCREASING OVER SERN TX WILL CONTINUE EWD AS STRONG
FORCING AHEAD OF UPPER TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SLY LLJ OVERSPREAD SWRN
LA THIS EVENING.  INSTABILITY REMAINS MARGINAL...HOWEVER BOUNDARY
LAYER MOISTURE WILL LIKELY INCREASE AHEAD OF THIS ACTIVITY AS SSWLY
TRAJECTORIES OFF THE GULF BOOST SURFACE DEW POINTS INTO THE MID 60S
NEAR THE COAST AND JUST INLAND.  MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL WILL
ACCOMPANY STRONGER CORES AS DEEP LAYER SHEAR MAINTAINS ROTATING
UPDRAFTS.  IN ADDITION...EXTREME SHEAR AND STRONG SURFACE PRESSURE
FALLS SUGGEST A THREAT OF A FEW TORNADOES AND DAMAGING WINDS IF
STORMS ROOT NEAR THE SURFACE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
400. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26030.


...EVANS

305,0934 303,0912 292,0912 293,0934

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 14, 9:42 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Acadia, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette and 2 more	2 hr
Dec 14, 11:50 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Avoyelles, Beauregard and 16 more	85 min
Dec 14, 1:04 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline and 7 more	86 min
Dec 14, 5:56 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Acadia, Iberia, Iberville, Lafayette, Saint Landry, Saint Martin and 2 more	94 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 2005 Every tornado watch in 2005

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.