Alert archive / Tennessee / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 170, NWS Memphis, TN

May 27, 1997Shelby County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1997, 3:37 AM CDT for Shelby County, Tennessee. It was in force for 48 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
May 27, 1997, 3:37 AM CDT (08:37 UTC)
Expired
May 27, 1997, 4:25 AM CDT
In force
48 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 08:39 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 27, 4:00 AM CDTHail 0.75Memphis, TN
May 27, 4:10 AM CDTHail 0.88Collierville, TN

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 27, 2:45 AM CDTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 8.6 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-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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 27, 12:14 AM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 27, 12:15 AM CDT, 3 hours 22 minutes before
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<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 27, 4:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGBenton46 min
May 27, 5:21 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGTallahatchie49 min
May 27, 6:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChickasaw46 min
May 26, 7:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLauderdale46 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHaywood48 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, 4:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette33 min
May 26, 8:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGRandolph45 min
May 26, 10:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGRandolph50 min
May 26, 10:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLawrence49 min
May 26, 11:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGRandolph34 min
May 26, 11:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLawrence49 min
May 26, 11:21 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGLawrence34 min
May 26, 11:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGGreene47 min
May 26, 11:57 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGCraighead48 min
May 27, 1:06 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLawrence34 min
May 27, 1:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGCraighead48 min
May 27, 1:40 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGCraighead30 min
May 27, 2:11 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGPoinsett49 min
May 27, 2:39 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGCross, Poinsett31 min
May 27, 3:06 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGCrittenden49 min
May 27, 3:12 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGMississippi, Poinsett48 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.