Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Memphis, TN

March 18, 1996Lowndes County, Mississippi

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 18, 1996, 3:42 PM CST for Lowndes County, Mississippi. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 18, 1996, 3:42 PM CST (21:42 UTC)
Expired
Mar 18, 1996, 4:15 PM CST
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Lowndes County, MS

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:35 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 158 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1996-03-18Temperature 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1996-03-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 48 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
85 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 182144
TORMEM
MSC087-182215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
342 PM CST MON MAR 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  415 PM CST
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...LOWNDES COUNTY
 
AT 340 PM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO EAST OF
ARTESIA NEAR HIGHWAY 45. THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND
WILL MOVE ACORSS COLUMBUS BY 400 PM. GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED
NEAR ARTESIA AT 330 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLNE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL 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.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 18, 3:16 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLowndes44 min

Nearby

Tornado 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.