446 FXUS64 KLCH 121838 AFDLCH SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 138 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2001 .TONIGHT... GULF AIR ADVECTION STRENGTHENS. EXPECT INCREASING CLOUDINESS AS GULF AIR OVERRIDES FILM OF DRIER AIR AT THE SURFACE. THE ATMOSPHERE IS BEING PRE-CONDITIONED FOR UPCOMING HEAVY RAIN EVENT. INCOMING GULF AIR SHOULD KEEP MINIMUMS ON THE WARM SIDE (ABOUT 10 TO 15 F DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL). .SATURDAY... A HEAVY RAIN EVENT SEEMS LIKELY. STRONG ADIABATIC LIFT WILL BE IN PLACE. THE NGM TRAJECTORY MODEL COMPUTES A NET VERTICAL DISPLACEMENT OF THE 700 MB SURFACE AT +80 MB WITHIN A 12 HOUR PERIOD). OTHER FACTORS NOTED ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA INCLUDE...700-300 MB THICKNESS DIFLUENCE...700-300 MB QUASI-GEOSTROPHIC LIFT...AND 1000-500 MB MEAN RH NEAR 90 PERCENT. MARGINAL INSTABILITY SEEMS TO BE THE ONLY LIMITING FACTOR. THE 700- 300 MB LAPSE RATES ARE RUNNING NEAR 6.5 C DEG PER KM...WHICH IS MARGINALLY UNSTABLE (FOR A CLOUDY AIR PARCEL UNDERGOING AVERAGE ENTRAINMENT IN A MOIST ENVIRONMENT). AFTER TALKING WITH THE SURROUNDING OFFICES...I HAVE DECIDED TO ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS...AND FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA. ALSO I WILL ISSUE A SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT (HEAVY RAIN OUTLOOK) TO COVER THE REMAINDER (EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA). SPECIAL THANKS TO HOUSTON, NEW ORLEANS, SHREVEPORT OFFICES AND TO THE HYDRO-METEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER. .LCH...FFA (FLOOD WATCH) TXZ180>182-201-215-216 ... LAZ027-030-031-041-042-051 .PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... AEX 70/78/55/76/49/73/50 7830000 BPT 73/80/56/77/55/75/58 4800000 LCH 72/80/56/77/53/75/57 4800000 LFT 70/83/58/76/52/73/54 4830000 $$ TRARES