Alert archive / Tennessee / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Chester County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this flash flood warning at Mar 1, 1997, 2:38 AM CST for Chester County, Tennessee. It was in force for 92 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 1, 1997, 2:38 AM CST (08:38 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 4:10 AM CST
In force: 92 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Chester County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:38 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -249 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 285 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 344 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 010838
FFWMEM
TNC023-011010-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
238 AM CST SAT MAR 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 410 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...CHESTER COUNTY
 
AT 235 AM...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN CONTINUED ACROSS
CHESTER COUNTY. FLOODING HAS BEEN REPORTED IN THE HENDERSON AREA
WITH SEVERAL CARS SUBMERGED. HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS MUCH
OF THE COUNTY THROUGH 4 AM.

.BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT
IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLASH FLOODING. IF FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, Feb 28, 9:39 PM CST, 4 hours 59 minutes before

TNZ001>007-019>026-048>058-088>093-010445-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
939 PM CST FRI FEB 28 1997

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 73 CANCELLED FOR TENNESSEE...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 73 FOR WEST TENNESSEE AND WESTERN
PARTS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED NORTHWARD OUT OF TENNESSEE AND INTO WESTERN
KENTUCKY OR HAVE DIMINISHED AND DECREASED IN NUMBER OVER TENNESSEE
DURING THE LAST HOUR.

A WARM FRONT THAT HELPED TRIGGER THE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAS MOVED
NORTHWARD ACROSS WEST TENNESSEE AND IS NOW MOVING ACROSS WESTERN
KENTUCKY.

THERE IS NO LONGER ANY THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IN TENNESSEE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 28, 6:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crockett	32 min
Feb 28, 6:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tipton	32 min
Feb 28, 6:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lauderdale	35 min
Feb 28, 6:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette	31 min
Mar 1, 12:35 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardin	35 min
Mar 1, 2:59 AM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Hardin	21 min
Mar 1, 3:33 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Fayette, Hardeman	2 hr
Mar 1, 3:42 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Madison	2 hr
Mar 1, 4:47 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Henderson	2 hr
Mar 1, 9:09 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Henry	31 min
Mar 1, 3:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Haywood	34 min
Mar 1, 3:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crockett	35 min
Mar 1, 4:15 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crockett, Gibson	35 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Tennessee, 1997 Every flash flood warning 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.