Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Little Rock, AR
NWS Little Rock, AR issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 3:31 PM CST for Pulaski County, Arkansas. It was in force for 49 min. 3 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
- Mar 1, 1997, 3:31 PM CST (21:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 1, 1997, 4:20 PM CST
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Little Rock, AR
- Area
- Whole counties
County Pulaski County, AR
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:32 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 3:41 PM CST | Tornado F4 | Mabelvale, AR | |
| Mar 1, 3:47 PM CST | Tornado F2 | Sweet Home, AR | |
| Mar 1, 3:54 PM CST | Hail 0.88 | Gravel Ridge, AR |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 12:00 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 216 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
- 1288 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 477 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 174 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 230 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 6.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLIT 012132 RRA TORLIT ARC119-012220- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 331 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LITTLE ROCK AR HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 420 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ARKANSAS ...PULASKI COUNTY AT 331 PM CST...A TORNADO WAS DETECTED BY DOPPLER RADAR 25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK OR 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ALEXANDER MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... ALEXANDER AROUND 345 PM CST ... MABELVALE AROUND 350 PM CST ... DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK AROUND 405 PM CST ... NORTH LITTLE ROCK AROUND 405 PM CST ... SHERWOOD AROUND 410 PM CST ... IF YOU ARE AT HOME AND IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. AS A LAST RESORT...LAY IN A BATHTUB. COVER YOUR BODY WITH A MATTRESS...PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS. THOSE IN MOBILE HOMES SHOULD MOVE TO A STRONG BUILDING OR UNDERGROUND SHELTER. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...AND NO BUILDINGS ARE AVAILABLE...LAY IN A DITCH OR CULVERT TO AVOID FLYING DEBRIS. BUT BEWARE OF RISING WATER. 16/209
The office that day
Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 6:22 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Monroe | 33 min |
| Mar 1, 12:04 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Johnson | 46 min |
| Mar 1, 12:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Newton | 49 min |
| Mar 1, 12:42 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Johnson | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 12:53 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Newton | 62 min |
| Mar 1, 1:04 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Franklin | 66 min |
| Mar 1, 1:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Marion | 46 min |
| Mar 1, 1:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Saline | 49 min |
| Mar 1, 1:44 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Marion, Searcy | 51 min |
| Mar 1, 1:56 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Clark, Pike | 64 min |
| Mar 1, 1:58 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Baxter | 52 min |
| Mar 1, 2:04 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Baxter | 51 min |
| Mar 1, 2:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Franklin, Johnson | 51 min |
| Mar 1, 2:14 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Clark | 66 min |
| Mar 1, 2:22 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Fulton | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 2:29 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Logan | 51 min |
| Mar 1, 2:36 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski, White | 49 min |
| Mar 1, 2:42 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Hot Spring | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 2:47 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Johnson, Newton | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 2:58 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Newton, Pope, Searcy | 47 min |
| Mar 1, 3:02 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Logan, Yell | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 3:05 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Saline | 65 min |
| Mar 1, 3:16 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Independence, Jackson | 64 min |
| Mar 1, 3:35 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Baxter, Marion | 50 min |
| Mar 1, 3:38 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Conway, Pope, Van Buren | 62 min |
| Mar 1, 3:54 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Lonoke | 61 min |
| Mar 1, 4:17 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Montgomery | 33 min |
| Mar 1, 4:19 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Stone | 66 min |
| Mar 1, 4:24 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | White | 66 min |
| Mar 1, 4:41 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Izard | 64 min |
| Mar 1, 4:50 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Woodruff | 50 min |
| Mar 1, 4:54 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Independence | 36 min |
| Mar 1, 5:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Conway | 47 min |
| Mar 1, 5:07 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Sharp | 48 min |
| Mar 1, 5:11 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LZK | Jackson | 19 min |
| Mar 1, 5:23 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Ouachita | 47 min |
| Mar 1, 5:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Calhoun | 50 min |
| Mar 1, 5:55 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Dallas | 50 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 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.