Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1986
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Memphis, TN
NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 18, 1986, 3:47 PM CST for Hardeman County, McNairy County, Tennessee; Benton County, Mississippi. It was in force for 58 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 18, 1986, 3:47 PM CST (21:47 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 18, 1986, 4:45 PM CST
- In force
- 58 min
- Issued by
- NWS Memphis, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Benton County, MS, Hardeman County, TN, McNairy County, TN
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
The nearest sounding before it
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 98 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3583 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 56 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 278 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 277 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMEM 182147 TORMEM TNC069-109-MSC009-182245- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 347 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF TENNESSEE...SOUTHEAST HARDEMAN AND MC NAIRY MISSISSIPPI...EXTREME NORTHERN BENTON AT 340 PM CST, A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND NEAR ASHLAND, MISSISSIPPI IN BENTON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED IN NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY !
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Mar 18, 2:50 PM CST, 57 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 230 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986 AT 230 PM A FEW ISOLATED VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI NEAR ENID RESERVOIR...OXFORD...AND HOLLY SPRINGS. A FEW VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO OVER NORTHEAST ARKANSAS NEAR JONESBORO AND BRINKLEY. OTHERWISE...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND PATCHES OF LIGHT RAIN CONTINUED MOST OF THE MID SOUTH AREA. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR. THESE THUNDERSTORMS PRECEDES A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH WESTERN ARKANSAS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MOST OF NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI FROM 3 PM UNTIL 9 PM CST THIS TUESDAY AFMTERNOON AND EVENING. STAY TUNED TO THIS STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.
Special weather statement, Mar 18, 3:42 PM CST, 5 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
330 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986
.. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH # 47 CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CST
FOR NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI ..
AT 330 PM CST..VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED BETWEEN HOLLY
SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI AND BOLIVAR, TENNESSEE. OTHER VERY HEAVY THUNDER-
STORMS WERE LOCATED JUST EAST OF JONESBORO, ARKANSAS AND SOUTH OF
FORREST CITY, ARKANSAS.
LIGHT RAIN AND SCATTERED THUNDERSHOWERS CONTINUED OVER MUCH OF THE
MIDSOUTH.Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1986Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1986Every tornado warning in 1986Tornadoes in 1986
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.