Alert archive / Tennessee / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Chester County, Hardeman County, Madison County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this flash flood warning at Mar 1, 1997, 10:36 PM CST for Chester County, Hardeman County, Madison County, Tennessee. It was in force for 4 hr. 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, 10:36 PM CST (04:36 UTC)
Expired: Mar 2, 1997, 2:35 AM CST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Chester County, TN, Hardeman County, TN, Madison County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:39 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, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 122 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: 491 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 020435
FFWMEM
TNC017-023-069-077-113-020835-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1036 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 235 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...CARROLL COUNTY
   ...CHESTER COUNTY
   ...HARDEMAN COUNTY
   ...HENDERSON COUNTY
   ...MADISON COUNTY
 
ONE TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN FELL ON PARTS OF MADISON .. HENDERSON ..
CHESTER .. CARROLL AND HARDEMAN COUNTIES BETWEEN 700 PM AND 1000 PM
THIS EVENING.  MORE HEAVY RAIN IS FALLING AT THIS TIME AND UPWARDS
OF AN ADDITIONAL TWO INCHES IS PROBABLE BEFORE IT DIMINISHES LATER
TONIGHT.

STREAMS AND DRAINAGES ARE SWOLLEN FROM THE RAIN THAT HAS ALREADY
FALLEN SO THE ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL CAUSE FLOODING .. ESPECIALLY IN
LOW SPOTS AND POORLY DRAINED AREAS.

THE RAIN WILL BE ENDING LATER TONIGHT BUT IT WILL TAKE SOME EXTRA
TIME FOR THE RAINWATER TO RUN OFF INTO DRAINAGES.

.FLOODING IS ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS AT NIGHT .. BECAUSE MOTORISTS CAN
NOT SEE THE FLOOD WATERS VERY WELL.  DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO
GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING
WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 1, 7:01 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Dyer	44 min
Mar 1, 7:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Dyer	35 min
Mar 1, 7:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Gibson	34 min
Mar 1, 7:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Weakley	35 min
Mar 1, 8:04 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Henry, Weakley	51 min
Mar 1, 8:16 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Dyer, Gibson, Obion, Weakley	5 hr
Mar 1, 8:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby	34 min
Mar 1, 8:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tipton	32 min
Mar 1, 9:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Haywood	45 min
Mar 1, 9:17 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Fayette, Haywood, Shelby, Tipton	3 hr
Mar 1, 10:03 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Shelby	4 hr
Mar 1, 10:36 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Carroll, Henderson	4 hr
Mar 1, 10:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette	33 min
Mar 1, 11:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester, Hardeman	35 min
Mar 2, 12:27 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Fayette	2 hr
Mar 2, 12:56 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester, McNairy	34 min
Mar 2, 2:11 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	McNairy	119 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.