Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Memphis, TN
NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Jan 18, 1996, 8:49 AM CST for Fayette County, Tennessee; Marshall County, Mississippi. It was in force for 26 min. 2 reports 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, 8:49 AM CST (14:49 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 18, 1996, 9:15 AM CST
- In force
- 26 min
- Issued by
- NWS Memphis, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Marshall County, MS, Fayette County, TN
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:52 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, 9:05 AM CST | Hail 0.75 | Oakland, TN | |
| Jan 18, 9:05 AM CST | Tornado F0 | Byhalia, 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 48 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMEM 181504 COR TORMEM MSC093-TNC047-181515- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 849 AM CST THU JAN 18 1996...CORRECTED FOR TIME AND DATE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CST FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI ...NORTHWESTERN MARSHALL COUNTY IN WEST TENNESSEE ...FAYETTE COUNTY AT 851 AM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO JUST NORTHWEST OF BYHALIA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL TRACK JUST WEST OF MT PLEASANT BY 900 AM AND THEN INTO SOUTHWEST FAYETTE COUNTY NEAR ROSSVILLE BY 915 AM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS .
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, 2 hours 33 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 17, 8:49 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Fayette | 26 min |
| Jan 18, 8:18 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Shelby | 42 min |
| Jan 18, 8:34 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Haywood, Lauderdale, Tipton | 56 min |
| Jan 18, 8:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Fayette | 54 min |
| Jan 18, 8:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Dyer, Lake, Obion | 49 min |
| Jan 18, 9:17 AM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Fayette, Haywood | 43 min |
| Jan 18, 9:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Weakley | 33 min |
| Jan 17, 8:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | DeSoto, Marshall | 30 min |
| Jan 18, 8:45 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | DeSoto, Marshall | 30 min |
| Jan 18, 10:55 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Itawamba, Lee, Prentiss | 35 min |
| Jan 18, 10:55 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Tishomingo | 35 min |
| Jan 18, 11:26 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Itawamba, Tishomingo | 34 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1996Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.