Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 155, NWS Memphis, TN

May 26, 1997Haywood County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 26, 1997, 7:37 PM CDT for Haywood County, Tennessee. It was in force for 48 min. 3 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
May 26, 1997, 7:37 PM CDT (00:37 UTC)
Expired
May 26, 1997, 8:25 PM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Haywood County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:39 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 26, 8:00 PM CDTHail 1.75Brownsville, TN
May 26, 8:15 PM CDTThunderstorm WindBrownsville, TNSeveral trees were knocked down.
May 26, 8:15 PM CDTTornado F0Brownsville, TNA tornado briefly touched down producing minimal damage.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 26, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 103 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 1997-05-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4008 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-05-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 30 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
4008 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
884 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
4.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

573 
WUUS1 KMEM 270038 RRA
SVRMEM
TNC075-270125-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
737 PM CDT MON MAY 26 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 825 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...HAYWOOD COUNTY
 
AT 736 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
LARGE HAIL NEAR NUTBUSH. THIS STORM IS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH
AND WILL PASS NEAR BROWNSVILLE BY 8 PM.

.A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.
REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE
ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 26, 7:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLauderdale46 min
May 26, 7:58 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGHaywood32 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMadison46 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGMadison35 min
May 26, 9:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChester33 min
May 26, 9:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman51 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMcNairy48 min
May 26, 9:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardin46 min
May 27, 3:24 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGTipton31 min
May 27, 3:37 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGShelby48 min
May 27, 4:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette33 min
May 27, 4:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman46 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.