Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 43, NWS St. Louis, MO

December 23, 1996Saint Francois County, Washington County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at Dec 23, 1996, 2:15 PM CST for Saint Francois County, Washington County, Missouri. It was in force for 30 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: Dec 23, 1996, 2:15 PM CST (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Dec 23, 1996, 2:45 PM CST
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Saint Francois County, MO, Washington County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:15 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Dec 23, 2:20 PM CST	Hail 1	Elvins, MO

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.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 297 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: 237 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -72 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 818 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 414 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 442 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSTL 232015 RRA
TORSTL
MOC187-221-232045-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
215 PM CST MON DEC 23 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI
 
   ...NORTHERN ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY
   ...SOUTHEASTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 115 PM...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHEAST
WASHINGTON COUNTY NEAR CALEDONIA. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT
40 MPH. THE STORM SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE FLAT RIVER AND BONNE TERRE
AREAS BY 245 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER IN A BASEMENT
OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL.
 
 
DF/ST

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 23, 10:27 AM CST	Tornado Warning	LSX	Crawford, Washington	63 min
Dec 23, 10:59 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Montgomery, Warren	61 min
Dec 23, 11:03 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Lincoln	42 min
Dec 23, 11:19 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Jefferson	41 min
Dec 23, 11:43 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Lincoln	62 min
Dec 23, 12:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Franklin	65 min
Dec 23, 1:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LSX	Iron, Washington	35 min
Dec 23, 2:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LSX	Sainte Genevieve	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.