Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 26, NWS Little Rock, AR
NWS Little Rock, AR issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 5:22 PM CDT for Franklin County, Arkansas. It was in force for 48 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
- May 2, 1997, 5:22 PM CDT (22:22 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 1997, 6:10 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Little Rock, AR
- Area
- Whole counties
County Franklin County, AR
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 5:37 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Charleston, AR | |
| May 2, 5:37 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Charleston, AR | Thunderstorm winds gusted to 60 mph at Charleston. |
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, 5:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 155 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 915 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 283 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 413 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLIT 022222 RRA TORLIT ARC047-022310- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 522 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LITTLE ROCK AR HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 610 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WESTERN ARKANSAS ...FRANKLIN COUNTY AT 519 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS DETECTED BY DOPPLER RADAR 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF BOONEVILLE OR 8 MILES SOUTH OF CHARLESTON MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN MOSTLY IN RURAL AREAS. 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. 29/31
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 2, 12:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 42 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-022300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1240 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 ...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS TODAY... THE ATMOSPHERE OVER ARKANSAS WILL BE QUITE UNSTABLE IN ADVANCE OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH MANY PARTS OF THE STATE THIS MORNING... BUT THE PRIMARY SUPPORT FOR SEVERE STORMS WAS STILL APPROACHING. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WITH COLD AIR ALOFT WAS OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS MORNING. AS LOW PRESSURE LIFTS NORTHEASTWARD...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH MOST OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR SOME EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE STATE EARLY TONIGHT. PERSONS ACROSS ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES. TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVSION...CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM...RADIO STATION OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. 31
Special weather statement, May 2, 12:44 PM CDT, 4 hours 38 minutes before
ARZ003>009-012>018-020>028-030>073-022300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 1240 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 ...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF ARKANSAS TODAY... THE ATMOSPHERE OVER ARKANSAS WILL BE QUITE UNSTABLE IN ADVANCE OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH MANY PARTS OF THE STATE THIS MORNING... BUT THE PRIMARY SUPPORT FOR SEVERE STORMS WAS STILL APPROACHING. A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WITH COLD AIR ALOFT WAS OVER THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS MORNING. AS LOW PRESSURE LIFTS NORTHEASTWARD...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH MOST OF ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON. THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR SOME EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF THE STATE EARLY TONIGHT. PERSONS ACROSS ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES. TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVSION...CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM...RADIO STATION OR NOAA WEATH$ER RADIO FOR THE LATER INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. 31
Special weather statement, May 2, 1:44 PM CDT, 3 hours 38 minutes before
ARZ025-034-022300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 140 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH 233 FOR NORTHEAST ARKANSAS UNTIL 7 PM CDT... A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHEAST ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON...SOME PRODUCING STRONG WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND A POSSIBLE TORNDADO. AT 135 PM...THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTOMMS WERE LOCATED FROM NEAR LITTLE ROCK TO BATESVILLE TO POCAHONTAS. THIS LINE OF STORMS WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH. JACKSON AND WOODRUFF COUNTIES PLUS 10 COUNTIES EAST AND NORTH OF THESE TWO COUNTIES ARE IN THE TORNADO WATCH. PERSONS ACROSS NORTHEAST ARKANSAS SHOULD REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY RULES. TUNE TO YOUR LOCAL TELEVISION...CABLE TELEVISION OR RADIO STATION OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. 16
The office that day
Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 12:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne | 61 min |
| May 2, 12:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Faulkner, Pulaski | 62 min |
| May 2, 2:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Bradley | 48 min |
| May 2, 4:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Monroe | 33 min |
| May 2, 4:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Drew | 48 min |
| May 2, 5:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne | 35 min |
| May 2, 5:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Conway, Faulkner, Van Buren | 48 min |
| May 2, 5:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Perry | 48 min |
| May 2, 5:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LZK | Logan | 49 min |
| May 2, 5:46 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LZK | Johnson | 49 min |
| May 2, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne, White | 50 min |
| May 2, 6:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Drew | 31 min |
| May 2, 6:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LZK | Pope | 33 min |
| May 2, 6:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Bradley | 33 min |
| May 2, 6:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Van Buren | 33 min |
| May 2, 6:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | White | 48 min |
| May 2, 6:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Pulaski | 33 min |
| May 2, 6:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Drew | 51 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.