Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 16, NWS New Orleans, LA

October 25, 1997Hancock County, Harrison County, Mississippi

NWS New Orleans, LA issued this tornado warning at Oct 25, 1997, 3:34 PM CDT for Hancock County, Harrison County, Mississippi. It was in force for 56 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: Oct 25, 1997, 3:34 PM CDT (20:34 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS New Orleans, LA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hancock County, MS, Harrison County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:37 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
Oct 25, 3:40 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Sellers, MS	A tornado destroyed two mobile homes and damaged a house. The tornado was sighted by Sheriffs Office personnel when it touched 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 nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 44 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: 2541 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 486 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 191 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 12.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KNEW 252036 RRA
TORNEW
MSC045-047-252130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW ORLEANS LA
334 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 PM CDT
FOR RESIDENTS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...HANCOCK COUNTY...HARRISON COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS
 
AT 330 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
TORNADO DEVELOPING OVER HANCOCK COUNTY MISSISSIPPI. THIS THUNDERSTORM IS
MOVING NORTHEAST ABOUT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE
OF STURDY FURNITURE. SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOMz SUCH AS A
CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS New Orleans, LA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 2:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LIX	Pearl River	37 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.