An upper level low pressure area helped produce heavy rain and thunderstorms that caused one house fire in Groves and flooded a home in Port Arthur.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LCH wrote it up.
An upper level low pressure area helped produce heavy rain and thunderstorms that caused one house fire in Groves and flooded a home in Port Arthur.
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jul 19, 4:06 AM CST, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 506 AM CDT TUE JUL 19 2011 .SYNOPSIS... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALREADY DEVELOPING THIS MORNING ALONG THE SW LA COAST AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN A ZONE OF DECENT MOISTURE CONVERGENCE AS INDICATED BY MSAS ANALYSES THIS MORNING. THIS ACTIVITY WAS OCCURRING IN CONJUNCTION WITH AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH THAT CONTINUES TO MOVE WEST ACRS THE NW GULF. THIS DISTURBANCE WAS TRAVELING AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF A DOMINANT RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE MIDWESTERN STATES. LATEST WATER VAPOR IMAGES SHOW A WEDGE OF DRIER AIR APPROACHING THE AREA FM THE NE. && .DISCUSSION... AFOREMENTIONED UPPER TROUGH WILL CONTINUE ITS TREK WESTWARD TODAY INTO SE TX...WHILE DRIER AIR BEGINS TO FILTER INTO THE REGION FM THE NE. EXPECT THE BEST CHANCE FOR CONVECTION TODAY OVER SE TX...TAPERING TO LOWER CHANCES FOR THE NE ZONES. PRECIP WATER VALUES WILL CONTINUE TO BE ABNORMALLY HIGH ACRS THE SWRN HALF OF THE AREA TODAY...ABOUT 120-140 PERCENT OF NORMAL...THUS THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR HEAVY RAINFALL WITHIN A FEW SHOWERS. ISOLATED RAINFALL TOTALS OF ONE TO THREE INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN SOME LOCATIONS. AFTN HIGHS WILL BE NEAR NORMAL ACRS MUCH OF THE AREA...WITH TEMPERATURES DEPENDENT ON WHERE RAIN OCCURS AND WHERE IT DOESN'T. RAIN CHANCES WILL DIMINISH TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY AS DRIER AIR SETTLES OVER THE REGION WITH PW VALUES TRENDING CLOSER TO SEASONAL NORMS. THERE WILL BE A SLT TO LOW END CHC FOR SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY FOR THE MORE TYPICAL NOCTURNAL ACTIVITY NEAR THE COAST AND DAYTIME SEABREEZE ACTIVITY OVER INLAND ZONES. WITH LESS CONVECTIVE COVERAGE AND THE POSSIBILITY FOR A LITTLE MORE SUNSHINE...AFTN HIGHS WILL BE A FEW DEGREES WARMER. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW AN UPPER LEVEL LOW TRAVELING WEST ACRS THE NRN GULF WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY...AND THIS FEATURE COULD BRING AT LEAST A CHC FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA THURSDAY. BY FRIDAY...THE LOW WILL MOVE FURTHER WEST INTO TX WITH UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE BEGINNING TO BUILD BACK OVER THE AREA. THE COMBINATION OF UPPER RIDGING ALONG WITH WEAK SFC HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE AREA WILL BRING A RETURN TO SLT CHC POPS...MAINLY OF THE DIURNAL VARIETY. IN ADDITION...AFTN HIGHS WILL WARM BACK UP WITH TEMPS INTO THE MID TO UPPER 90S. && .MARINE... WEAK SFC HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING OVER THE NRN GULF WILL MAINTAIN A LIGHT MOSTLY ONSHORE FLOW AND LOW SEAS THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK. FOR TODAY...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED AS AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH TRAVELS WEST TOWARD THE SE TX COAST. WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE LOCALLY HIGHER NEAR THE STORMS...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAINFALL THAT MAY REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO BELOW 1 NM AT TIMES. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... KLCH 91 77 92 76 / 50 20 30 20 KBPT 90 77 92 77 / 60 20 30 20 KAEX 93 74 95 74 / 30 10 20 20 KLFT 92 76 93 75 / 40 10 20 20 && .LCH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... LA...NONE. TX...NONE. GM...NONE. && PUBLIC/MARINE...24
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 538 AM CDT TUE JUL 19 2011 LAZ027>033-041>045-051>055-TXZ180>182-201-215-216-201100- VERNON-RAPIDES-AVOYELLES-BEAUREGARD-ALLEN-EVANGELINE-ST. LANDRY- CALCASIEU-JEFFERSON DAVIS-ACADIA-LAFAYETTE-UPPER ST. MARTIN- CAMERON-VERMILION-IBERIA-ST. MARY-LOWER ST. MARTIN-TYLER-JASPER- NEWTON-HARDIN-JEFFERSON-ORANGE- 538 AM CDT TUE JUL 19 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL LOUISIANA...SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...WEST CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE COMBINATION OF DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE OVER THE AREA WITH AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING WEST INTO SOUTHEAST TEXAS WILL ALLOW FOR NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. RAIN CHANCES WILL BE HIGHEST ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS. DUE TO THE HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT AND EXPECTED SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE STRONGER SHOWERS AND STORMS TODAY...HEAVY RAINFALL WITH AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES MAY FALL IN ISOLATED LOCATIONS IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. THIS WILL LEAD TO PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS AND MINOR STREET FLOODING IN LOW LYING URBAN DRAINAGE AREAS. ALSO...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING MAY OCCUR WITH THE STORMS. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH THIS EVENING WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL DECREASE WITH JUST A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR RAIN EACH DAY. WITH LOWER RAIN CHANCES...AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL AGAIN CLIMB TO THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 90S WITH HEAT INDEX READINGS OF 100-105 DEGREES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. GMZ430-432-435-450-452-455-470-472-475-201100- SABINE LAKE-CALCASIEU LAKE-VERMILION BAY- COASTAL WATERS FROM CAMERON, LA TO HIGH ISLAND, TX OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY TO CAMERON, LA OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM LOWER ATCHAFALAYA RIVER TO INTRACOASTAL CITY, LA OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM CAMERON, LA TO HIGH ISLAND, TX EXTENDING FROM 20 NM TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM INTRACOASTAL CITY, LA TO CAMERON, LA EXTENDING FROM 20 NM TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM LOWER ATCHAFALAYA RIVER TO INTRACOASTAL CITY, LA EXTENDING FROM 20 NM TO 60 NM- 538 AM CDT TUE JUL 19 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF THE NORTHWEST GULF OF MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED. HEAVY RAINFALL REDUCING VISIBILITIES BELOW 1 NM AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO WATER LIGHTNING WILL BE THE MAIN HAZARDS FROM THE STORMS. IN ADDITION...WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE BRIEFLY HIGHER NEAR STORMS. RAIN CHANCES WILL DECREASE THIS EVENING...WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE AGAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY RAIN CHANCES WILL REMAIN ON THE LOW SIDE WITH JUST SOME WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE MAINLY DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING HOURS EACH DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. 24
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:21 UTC.
1 lightning, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A house that was struck by lightning caught fire in Groves. The fire started in the attic of the two story home, and caused considerable water damage on the first floor and fire damage on the second floor.
The Port Arthur Transit System was shut down due to widespread street flooding across Port Arthur. One home had water enter it in Port Arthur.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, July 2011
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 336641, 336640.