Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 33, NWS Jackson, MS

May 2, 1997Montgomery County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 4:53 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Mississippi. It was in force for 52 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: May 2, 1997, 4:53 PM CDT (21:53 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Whole counties

County Montgomery County, MS

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:54 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
May 2, 4:56 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Duck Hill, MS	Numerous trees were blown down in Duck Hill.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 2, 12:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 750 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 543 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 256 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 345 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

968 
WFUS1 KJAN 022155 RRA
TORJAN
MSC097-022245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
453 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
AT 451 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER NORTHERN
CARROLL COUNTY. THIS STORM WAS NOW MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH...AND WILL MOVE
NEAR THE TOWN OF DUCK HILL.
 
SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME
OR APARTMENT.  AVOID WINDOWS AND PROTECT YOUR HEAD FROM FLYING
DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS OR PILLOWS.
<
69

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 11:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Bolivar	42 min
May 2, 12:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Sunflower	39 min
May 2, 1:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Holmes	54 min
May 2, 2:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Carroll	55 min
May 2, 2:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Montgomery	49 min
May 2, 2:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Webster	47 min
May 2, 2:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Choctaw	52 min
May 2, 3:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	42 min
May 2, 3:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Sunflower	33 min
May 2, 4:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leflore	57 min
May 2, 4:18 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Leflore	42 min
May 2, 4:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Carroll, Grenada	56 min
May 2, 5:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Issaquena, Sharkey	63 min
May 2, 5:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Washington	41 min
May 2, 5:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Webster	53 min
May 2, 5:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Humphreys	65 min
May 2, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Washington	52 min
May 2, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes	64 min
May 2, 6:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Issaquena, Sharkey	46 min
May 2, 6:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Carroll, Montgomery	58 min
May 2, 6:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Humphreys	46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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.