Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1987
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Memphis, TN
NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Aug 4, 1987, 8:24 PM CDT for Craighead County, Arkansas. It was in force for 36 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 4, 1987, 8:24 PM CDT (01:24 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 4, 1987, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Memphis, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Craighead County, AR
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 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 127 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
- 3576 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 17 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 44 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 050124
TORMEM
ARC031-050200-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
824 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 1987
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN EAST ARKANSAS
...EASTERN CRAIGHEAD
THE PUBLIC REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR LAKE CITY ARKANSAS MOVING TO
THE SOUTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR. RADAR WAS ALSO INDICATING THIS
DEVELOPING TORNADO. PERSONS NEAR CARAWAY...LUNSFORD...AND LAKE CITY
SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.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, Aug 4, 4:50 PM CDT, 3 hours 34 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUPELO MS 445 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 1987 ...VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI... AT 440 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED SEVERAL VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE EAST OF NEW ALBANY..FROM OXFORD TO WEST OF NEW ALBANY...AND IN EXTREME NORTHWEST ITAWAMBA COUNTY. MOVEMENT OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO 2 MILES AN HOUR. THESE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE BRIEF PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN..STRONG GUSTY WIND UP TO 45 MILES AN HOUR...AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL. PERSONS IN NORTHEAST ISSISSIPPI SHOULD BE WEATHER ALERT AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE THE NE CESSARY ACTIONS SHOULD THREATENING WEATHER APPROACH.
Special weather statement, Aug 4, 4:54 PM CDT, 3 hours 30 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTIONS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUPELO MS 445 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 1987 ...VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI... AT 440 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED SEVERAL VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE EAST OF NEW ALBANY..FROM OXFORD TO WEST OF NEW ALBANY...AND IN EXTREME NORTHWEST ITAWAMBA COUNTY. MOVEMENT OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MILES AN HOUR. THESE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE BRIEF PERIOD OF HEAVY RAIN..STRONG GUSTY WIND UP TO 45 MILES AN HOUR...AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL. PERSONS IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI SHOULD BE WEATHER ALERT AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE THE NECESSARY ACTIONS SHOULD THREATENING WEATHER APPROACH.
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes in 1987
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.