Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 30, NWS Memphis, TN

November 19, 1988Coahoma County, Quitman County, Tunica County, Mississippi

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Nov 19, 1988, 7:09 PM CST for Coahoma County, Quitman County, Tunica County, Mississippi. It was in force for 66 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Nov 19, 1988, 7:09 PM CST (01:09 UTC)
Expired: Nov 19, 1988, 8:15 PM CST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Coahoma County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Tunica County, MS

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Nov 19, 7:45 PM CST	Tornado F1	Coahoma, MS

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 66 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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 58 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, 53 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, 6:22 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Quitman	38 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
Nov 19, 6:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lauderdale, Tipton	55 min
Nov 19, 6:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby	55 min
Nov 19, 8:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Fayette, Shelby	53 min
Nov 19, 6:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden, Mississippi	66 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.