Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Jacksonville, FL
NWS Jacksonville, FL issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 1997, 5:47 AM EDT for Ware County, Georgia. It was in force for 28 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
- Apr 28, 1997, 5:47 AM EDT (09:47 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 1997, 6:15 AM EDT
- In force
- 28 min
- Issued by
- NWS Jacksonville, FL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Ware County, GA
The radar
The Moody AFB radar (KVAX), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:49 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 5:50 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Waycross, GA | Numerous large trees were blown down along RT 84. |
| Apr 28, 5:50 AM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Waycross, GA | Storage shed and destroyed, and numerous reports of large trees blown down. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 3:00 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Jacksonville, FL (KJAX), launched 00:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 93 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
- 949 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 634 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 119 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 2.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
741 WFUS1 KJAX 280951 RRA TORJAX GAC299-281015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL 547 AM EDT MON APR 28 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 AM EDT FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN SOUTHEAST GEORGIA ...WARE COUNTY AT 0543 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TRACKING A POSSIBLE TORNADO MOVING FROM THE VICINITY OF NEEDHAM NORTHEAST TOWARD EMERSON PARK...THIS STORM SHOULD PASS THROUGH SOUTH WAYCROSS NEAR 6 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 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. WELSH
The office that day
Everything else NWS Jacksonville, FL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 4:56 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Clinch | 49 min |
| Apr 28, 5:03 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | JAX | Clinch, Ware | 42 min |
| Apr 28, 11:32 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAX | Camden | 43 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Georgia, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.