Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 121, NWS Memphis, TN

April 30, 1997Shelby County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 30, 1997, 8:41 PM CDT for Shelby County, Tennessee. It was in force for 49 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: Apr 30, 1997, 8:41 PM CDT (01:41 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 1997, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Shelby County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:41 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, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 40 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2170 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 010142 RRA
SVRMEM
TNC157-010230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
841 PM CDT WED APR 30 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...SHELBY COUNTY
 
AT 839 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS OVER EASTERN SHELBY COUNTY NEAR
BARTLETT. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE
THROUGH EADS AND ARLINGTON BY 900 PM. ANOTHER LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
IS CROSSING THE RIVER INTO DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS AND WILL AFFECT THE
MEMPHIS METROPOLITAN AREA THROUGH 915 PM.

.SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR
PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RA,INS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 30, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby	34 min
Apr 30, 8:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Weakley	33 min
Apr 30, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Henry	48 min
Apr 30, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette	31 min
Apr 30, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardeman	49 min
Apr 30, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester	32 min
Apr 30, 9:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardeman	31 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Tennessee, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm 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.