Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 33, NWS Little Rock, AR
NWS Little Rock, AR issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1997, 8:57 PM CDT for White County, Arkansas. It was in force for 33 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 27, 1997, 8:57 PM CDT (01:57 UTC)
- Expired
- May 27, 1997, 9:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Little Rock, AR
- Area
- Whole counties
County White County, AR
The radar
The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:59 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 27, 9:15 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Antioch, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 27, 3:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 170 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
- 2954 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1008 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 14 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 34 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
534 WFUS1 KLIT 280158 RRA TORLIT ARC145-280230- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 857 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LITTLE ROCK AR HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ARKANSAS ...WHITE COUNTY AT 856 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS DETECTED BY DOPPLER RADAR 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SEARCY OR 6 MILES WEST OF BEEBE MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. LOCATIONS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... ANTIOCH AROUND 925 PM CDT ... BEEBE AROUND 925 PM CDT ... A DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED TORNADO MEANS THAT THERE IS STRONG ROTATION WITHIN A STORM. THE STORM MAY NOT BE PRODUCING A TORNADO AT THE MOMENT...BUT IS EXPECTED TO DURING THE WARNING PERIOD. THE STORM MAY ALSO BE ACCOMPANIED BY HAIL AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND. THOSE IN THE PATH OF THE STORM ARE ADVISED TO SEEK SHELTER RIGHT AWAY. 44/206
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 27, 3:35 PM CDT, 5 hours 22 minutes before
ARZ014-016-023>028-031>036-039-042>049-051>073-280230- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR 335 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997 ...A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MUCH OF ARKANSAS... A TORNADO WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF ARKANSAS UNTIL 1000 PM CDT TONIGHT. THE TORNADO WATCH COVERS 47 COUNTIES AND GENERALLY COVERS THE STATE EAST OF A LINE FROM ASHDOWN TO MOUNTAIN VIEW...AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM MOUNTAIN VIEW TO BLYTHEVILLE. NORTHERN AND WESTERN ARKANSAS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE WATCH. A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WAS LOCATED IN NORTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS THIS AFTERNOON AND A NEARLY STATIONARY COLD FRONT EXTENDED EAST OF THIS LOW ACROSS NORTHERN ARKANSAS WHILE ANOTHER COLD FRONT EXTENDED SOUTHWEST OF THIS LOW THROUGH SOUTHWESTERN ARKANSAS. SOUTH OF THESE FRONTS...WARM HUMID AIR EXISTED THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE FRONTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST ACROSS PARTS OF CENTRAL...EASTERN AND SOUTHERN ARKANSAS. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL...BUT AN ISOLATED TORNADO OR TWO CANNOT BE RULED OUT. PERSONS ACROSS MOST OF ARKANSAS SHOULD MONITOR YOUR LOCAL TELEVISION OR RADIO STATION...LOCAL CABLE TELEVISION OUTLET OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. 29
The office that day
Everything else NWS Little Rock, AR issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 27, 7:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Desha | 46 min |
| May 27, 8:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne | 35 min |
| May 27, 8:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Pulaski | 47 min |
| May 27, 8:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Lonoke | 48 min |
| May 27, 8:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LZK | Lonoke, Pulaski | 33 min |
| May 27, 8:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | White | 50 min |
| May 27, 9:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LZK | Lonoke | 45 min |
| May 27, 9:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Desha | 51 min |
| May 27, 9:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | White | 49 min |
| May 27, 9:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas | 47 min |
| May 27, 9:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Prairie | 50 min |
| May 27, 10:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Jefferson | 48 min |
| May 27, 10:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Prairie | 16 min |
| May 27, 10:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Monroe | 63 min |
| May 27, 10:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas, Prairie | 36 min |
| May 27, 11:25 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LZK | Desha, Drew, Lincoln | 3 hr |
| May 27, 11:25 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LZK | Arkansas | 3 hr |
| May 27, 11:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Arkansas | 48 min |
| May 28, 12:04 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Cleburne | 46 min |
| May 28, 1:28 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Faulkner, White | 32 min |
| May 28, 1:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Lonoke | 34 min |
| May 28, 1:58 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LZK | Independence, Jackson | 2 hr |
| May 28, 2:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Pulaski | 49 min |
| May 28, 2:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Faulkner | 51 min |
| May 28, 3:34 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Hot Spring | 31 min |
| May 28, 3:53 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LZK | Clark | 17 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.