Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Memphis, TN

January 18, 1996Lawrence County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Jan 18, 1996, 7:14 AM CST for Lawrence County, Arkansas. It was in force for 46 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: Jan 18, 1996, 7:14 AM CST (13:14 UTC)
Expired: Jan 18, 1996, 8:00 AM CST
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Lawrence County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:00 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
Jan 18, 7:15 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind	Walnut Ridge, AR

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

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 171 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: 9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 578 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 75 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -370 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -143 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 181320 COR
TORMEM
ARC075-181400-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
714 AM CST THU JAN 18 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 AM CST
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

CORRECTED FOR TIME

IN NORTHEAST ARKANSAS

   ...EASTERN LAWRENCE COUNTY

AT 703 PM..A TORNADO WAS REPORTED IN THE SOUTH PART OF THE COUNTY NEAR
CLOVER BEND. MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH...THIS STORM WILL MOVE NEAR
PONDERS AND SEDGWICK BY 745 AM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SM\ALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.



&

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, Jan 18, 6:16 AM CST, 58 minutes before

TNZ001>102-181815-

TENNESSEE SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
613 AM CST (713 AM EST) THU JAN 18 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER EXPECTED OVER WEST AND SECTIONS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE
TODAY...

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL BE MOVING INTO WEST TENNESSEE DURING LATE
MORNING..AND IS FORECAST TO REACH THE NASHVILLE AREA TOWARD
EVENING.

NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE COLD FRONT..AND SOME OF
THESE ARE EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE..WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL.
FOLLOWING FRONTAL PASSAGE..THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT ENDS..BUT
BLUSTERY CONDITIONS WILL THEN PREVAIL AS WINDS WILL
REMAIN STRONG AND TEMPERATURES WILL PLUNGE.

IN SUMMARY..PERSONS LIVING OVER WEST AND MIDDLE SECTIONS OF TENNESSEE
SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR  SEVERE WEATHER TODAY BY MONITORING NOAA WEATHER
RADIO..OR COMMERCIAL RADIO AND TELEVISION.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 18, 6:42 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Poinsett	48 min
Jan 18, 6:57 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	48 min
Jan 18, 7:16 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	St. Francis	44 min
Jan 18, 7:23 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Craighead	52 min
Jan 18, 7:28 AM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Poinsett	47 min
Jan 18, 7:44 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden	46 min
Jan 18, 8:08 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Mississippi	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 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.