Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Memphis, TN

April 30, 1997Chester County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 30, 1997, 9:38 PM CDT for Chester County, Tennessee. It was in force for 32 min. 2 reports 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
Apr 30, 1997, 9:38 PM CDT (02:38 UTC)
Expired
Apr 30, 1997, 10:10 PM CDT
In force
32 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 02:40 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 30, 9:45 PM CDTHail 0.75Henderson, TN
Apr 30, 9:45 PM CDTThunderstorm WindHenderson, TNSeveral power lines were blown down.

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 nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1997-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1997-05-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -2 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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.

331 
WUUS1 KMEM 010240 RRA
SVRMEM
TNC023-010310-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1010 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...CHESTER COUNTY
 
AT 937 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS JUST SOUTHEAST OF MEDON. THIS STORM IS
MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE THROUGH HENDERSON BY 950 PM.

THIS STORM PRODUCED QUARTER SIZE HAIL IN MEDON AT 935 PM.

.WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 

&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 30, 7:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGShelby34 min
Apr 30, 8:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGWeakley33 min
Apr 30, 8:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHenry48 min
Apr 30, 8:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGShelby49 min
Apr 30, 8:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette31 min
Apr 30, 9:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman49 min
Apr 30, 9:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman31 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Tennessee, 1997Every 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.