Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1990

Tornado Warning 51, NWS Jackson, MS

December 21, 1990Washington County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at Dec 21, 1990, 1:55 PM CST for Washington County, Mississippi. It was in force for 35 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Dec 21, 1990, 1:55 PM CST (19:55 UTC)
Expired: Dec 21, 1990, 2:30 PM CST
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Whole counties

County Washington 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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 572 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 685 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.6
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KJAN 211955
TORJAN
MSC151-212030-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
155 PM CST FRI DEC 21 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 155 PM CST...JACKSON RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER
WASHINGTON COUNTY...10 MILES SOUTH OF LELAND. THIS STORM CONTINUES TO
MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. THIS TORNADO WARNING
REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WASHINGTON COUNTY.
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS IN AN
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  GET UNDER STURDY FURNITURE.
USE PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR HEAD.
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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, Dec 21, 12:01 PM CST, 1 hour 54 minutes before

MSZALL-220000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
NOON CST FRI DEC 21 1990

...SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING TORNADOES...POSSIBLE AGAIN THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ACROSS MISSIS

Special weather statement, Dec 21, 12:03 PM CST, 1 hour 52 minutes before

MSZALL-220000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT              ...CORRECTED...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
NOON CST FRI DEC 21 1990

...SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING TORNADOES...POSSIBLE AGAIN THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ACROSS MISSISSIPPI...
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THIS AFTERNOON FOR NORTHERN THIRD OF
MISSISSIPPI...
...ARCTIC AIR MASS TO ENTER NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI TONIGHT AND ALL BUT
EXTREME SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI ON SATURDAY...

AN EXPLOSIVE SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION IS SETTING UP OVER MISSISSIPPI
AS NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE CREATING VERY UNSTABLE CONDITIONS
OVER THE AREA.  STRONG WINDS IN THE UPPER-LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND
SEVERAL STRONG UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL FURTHER ENHANCE THE
SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL BY THIS AFTERNOON.  SEVERE WEATHER WAS
ALREADY BREAKING OUT OVER LOUISIANA AND WILL LIKELY MOVE INTO SECTIONS
OF AT LEAST WESTERN MISSISSIPPI THIS AFTERNOON.  TORNADOES
ARE A STRONG POSSIBILITY AS THIS WEATHER SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM THE
WEST.

PARTS OF NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI RECEIVED HEAVY RAINS YESTERDAY AND WITH
THE THREAT OF MORE HEAVY RAINS THIS AFTERNOON...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH
REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN THIRD OF THE STATE.

A VERY COLD ARCTIC AIR MASS CONTINUES TO SLIDE SOUTHEASTWARD INTO
NORTHWESTERN ARKANSAS AND NORTHEASTERN TEXAS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.
THIS AIR MASS IS NOW EXPECTED TO ENTER SECTIONS OF NORTHWEST
MISSISSIPPI LATE TONIGHT...AND ALL BUT PERHAPS EXTREME SOUTHEAST
MISSISSIPPI DURING THE DAY SATURDAY.  TEMPERATURES WILL DROP SHARPLY
INTO THE 30S AND 40S AS THE ARCTIC FRONT PLOWS THROUGH THE STATE.

LINGERING PRECIPITATION SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO SUNDAY WILL PROBABLY
BE IN THE FORM OF FREEZING RAIN AND DRIZZLE.  AT THIS TIME...THIS
FREEZING PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO BE PATCHY...BUT COULD STILL
MAKE TRAVELING DIFFICULT DURING THE UPCOMING CHRISTMAS WEEKEND.
THOSE PLANNING TRIPS THIS WEEKEND ARE ADVISED TO KEEP UP WITH THE
LASTEST FORECASTS AND STATEMEDNTS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Jackson, MS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 21, 1:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Yazoo	44 min
Dec 21, 1:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Washington	28 min
Dec 21, 1:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Carroll	31 min
Dec 21, 2:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Sharkey	30 min
Dec 21, 2:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Claiborne, Warren	53 min
Dec 21, 2:18 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Grenada, Montgomery	42 min
Dec 21, 2:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Sunflower	29 min
Dec 21, 2:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Calhoun, Yalobusha	31 min
Dec 21, 2:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leflore, Tallahatchie	30 min
Dec 21, 2:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Humphreys	39 min
Dec 21, 3:00 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Warren, Yazoo	45 min
Dec 21, 3:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Humphreys	35 min
Dec 21, 3:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes, Leflore	35 min
Dec 21, 3:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Yazoo	44 min
Dec 21, 3:46 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes	44 min
Dec 21, 3:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Carroll, Grenada	50 min
Dec 21, 4:02 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Issaquena	13 min
Dec 21, 4:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Sharkey, Washington	29 min
Dec 21, 4:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren	50 min
Dec 21, 4:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Claiborne, Jefferson	49 min
Dec 21, 4:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes	43 min
Dec 21, 4:47 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Calhoun, Grenada	43 min
Dec 21, 4:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Humphreys, Sunflower	53 min
Dec 21, 4:59 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Warren	46 min
Dec 21, 5:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Carroll, Montgomery	53 min
Dec 21, 5:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Calhoun, Webster	54 min
Dec 21, 5:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Carroll	49 min
Dec 21, 5:46 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Warren	44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1990 Every tornado warning in 1990 Tornadoes in 1990

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.