Alert archive / Tennessee / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 19974 counties in Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this flash flood warning at Mar 1, 1997, 8:16 PM CST for 4 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 5 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, 8:16 PM CST (02:16 UTC)
Expired: Mar 2, 1997, 1:15 AM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Dyer County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Obion County, TN, Weakley County, TN

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:16 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, 2.3 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.

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 020216
FFWMEM
TNC045-053-131-183-020715-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...DYER COUNTY
   ...GIBSON COUNTY
   ...OBION COUNTY
   ...WEAKLEY COUNTY
 
AT 910 PM CST...THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS
PART OF NORTHWEST TENNESSEE. RAINFALL ESTIMATES FROM DOPPLER RADAR
WERE IN EXCESS OF THREE INCHES IN THE PAST THREE HOURS.

LOW LYING AREAS AND SOME ROADS HAVE BECOME COVERED WITH WATER FROM
THE HEAVY RAINFALL THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO
AFFECT THE AREA FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS ADDING TO THE FLOODING.

.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.

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, 8:41 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	Chester, Hardeman, Madison	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.