Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Memphis, TN

November 19, 1988Quitman County, Mississippi

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Nov 19, 1988, 6:22 PM CST for Quitman County, Mississippi. It was in force for 38 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 19, 1988, 6:22 PM CST (00:22 UTC)
Expired: Nov 19, 1988, 7:00 PM CST
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Quitman County, MS

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, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 71 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: 3614 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 79 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 119 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 313 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 
TTAA00 KMEM 200023
TORMEM
MSC119-200100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
622 PM CST  NOV 19 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI
          ...QUITMAN
 
AT 620 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO JUST NORTHWEST OF TUTWILER
IN SOUTHEAST COAHOMA COUNTY MISSISSIPPI...THE TORNADO WAS MOVING
TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL MOVE INTO QUITMAN COUNTY
SHORTLY. ITS PRESENT MOVEMENT WILL TAKE THE TORNADO NEAR LAMBERT AND
MARKS BEFORE 7PM.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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, Nov 19, 3:11 PM CST, 3 hours 11 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUPELO MS
305  PM CST SAT NOV 19 1988

  ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 8:00 PM THIS EVENING...

AT 255 PM CST...TUPELO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR WAS INDICATING
SCATTERED RAINSHOWER ACTIVITY OVER ALL OF THE NORTHWESTERN SECTION
OF MISSISSIPPI WHERE THE TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT AT THIS TIME. NO
STRONG DEVELOPMENT WAS INDICATED.

ELSEWHWERE OVER NORTH MISSISSIPPI...RADAR WAS INDICATING A RATHER
LARGE AREA OF WIDESPREAD LIGHT RAIN WITH EMBEDDED RAINSHOWERS AND
THUNDERSHOWERS. THE HEAVIEST CONCENTRATIONS OF THUNDERSHOWER
ACTIVITY WAS INDICATED JUST EAST OF FULTON IN CENTRAL ITAWAMBA
COUNTY IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.

MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MIES AN HOUR.

STAY TUNED TO YOUR NOAA WEATHER RADIO...TELEVISION OR RADIO FOR
FURTHER UPDATES ON THE WEATHER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION AS
CONDITIONS WARRANT.

Special weather statement, Nov 19, 6:16 PM CST, 6 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUPELO MS
615 PM CST SAT NOV 19 1988

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 492 IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR
NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI...

AT 610 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS OVER EXTREME NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES...PRENTISS...TISHOMINGO AND NORTHERN ITAWAMBA. THE
THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.

MORE INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI
RIVER DURING THE LAST HOUR. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE
PROMPTED THE ISSUANCE OF WARNINGS FOR SOME OF THE WESTERN COUNTIES.

STAY TUNE FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND MAKE PLANS TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER
IF AND WHEN A WARNING IS ISSUED OR THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 19, 6:02 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Coahoma	58 min
Nov 19, 7:09 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Coahoma, Quitman, Tunica	66 min
Nov 19, 7:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Panola	32 min
Nov 19, 7:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tate	36 min
Nov 19, 7:44 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Marshall	61 min
Nov 19, 8:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Union	15 min
Nov 19, 9:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lafayette	33 min
Nov 19, 10:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Pontotoc, Union	60 min
Nov 19, 11:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Itawamba	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes in 1988

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.