Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 49, NWS Jackson, MS

May 2, 1997Holmes County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 8:19 PM CDT for Holmes County, Mississippi. It was in force for 41 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, 8:19 PM CDT (01:19 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Whole counties

County Holmes County, MS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 2, 8:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Lexington, MS	Numerous trees were blown down through the city.

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, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 89 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: 2009 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1075 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 276 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 400 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.0
Supercell composite: 14.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KJAN 030121 RRA
TORJAN
MSC051-030200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
819 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...HOLMES COUNTY
 
AT 819 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM...POSSIBLY CONTAINING A TORNADO...JUST NORTH OF THORNTON.
THE STORM SHOULD MOVE NEAR LEXINGTON BY 840 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  MOVE QUICKLY TO UNDERGROUND SHELTER IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
AVOID WINDOWS.  LEAVE CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.
<
74

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 7:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Washington	52 min
May 2, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Choctaw, Webster	48 min
May 2, 7:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Holmes	41 min
May 2, 7:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Choctaw	45 min
May 2, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Carroll	49 min
May 2, 7:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	44 min
May 2, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Sunflower	42 min
May 2, 7:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Montgomery	46 min
May 2, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Washington	47 min
May 2, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Choctaw, Webster	43 min
May 2, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	57 min
May 2, 8:38 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Montgomery	3 hr
May 2, 8:38 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha, Webster	3 hr
May 2, 8:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Attala, Carroll, Montgomery	51 min
May 2, 8:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Sunflower	48 min
May 2, 9:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Leflore	41 min
May 2, 9:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Choctaw	51 min
May 2, 9:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Grenada	48 min
May 2, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Montgomery	29 min
May 2, 9:34 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Attala, Choctaw	3 hr
May 2, 9:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	40 min
May 2, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Webster	49 min
May 2, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leflore	41 min
May 2, 10:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Washington	54 min
May 2, 10:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Sunflower	46 min
May 2, 11:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leflore	52 min
May 2, 11:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Grenada	48 min
May 2, 11:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Carroll	51 min
May 2, 11:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Grenada, Webster	3 hr
May 2, 11:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Oktibbeha	3 hr
May 3, 12:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Hinds, Rankin	43 min
May 3, 12:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Montgomery	54 min
May 3, 1:04 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Warren, Yazoo	41 min
May 3, 1:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Hinds, Madison	42 min
May 3, 1:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Madison, Rankin	49 min
May 3, 2:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leake, Scott	53 min
May 3, 2:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Kemper, Neshoba	50 min
May 3, 2:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Noxubee	53 min
May 3, 2:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Newton	63 min
May 3, 3:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lauderdale	44 min
May 3, 4:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	42 min
May 3, 4:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lamar, Marion	53 min
May 3, 5:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest, Jones	45 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.