Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 30, NWS Memphis, TN

July 30, 1989Shelby County, Tipton County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Jul 30, 1989, 7:51 PM CDT for Shelby County, Tipton County, Tennessee. It was in force for 69 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 30, 1989, 7:51 PM CDT (00:51 UTC)
Expired
Jul 30, 1989, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
69 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

Counties Shelby County, TN, Tipton 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 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 58 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1989-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1989-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
3591 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
2 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, Jul 30, 6:11 PM CDT, 1 hour 40 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  MEMPHIS TN
600 PM CDT SUN JUL 30 1989

 BETWEEN 530 PM AND 6 PM VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS RUMBLED INTO
NORTHEAST ARKANSAS. A FEW STORMS IN POINSETT AND CRAIGHEAD COUNTIES
...NEAR THE TOWNS OF HARRISBURG AND JONEBORO...WERE PRODUCING VERY
HEAVY RAINFALLS...GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL.

PERSONS IN CRAIGHEAD AND POINSETT COUNTIES IN ARKANSAS SHOULD PREPARE
FOR DANGEROUS WEATHER AND TAKE SHELTER AS STORMS APPROACH. THE HEAVY
RAINS WITH THESE STORMS MAY CAUSE MINOR FLOODING OF ROADS...POOR
VISIBILITIES AND THEREFORE HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL BE
AFFECTING PERSONS LIVING ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI RIVIER BY 7 PM TONIGHT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 30, 8:30 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMEGShelby2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes in 1989

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.