Alert archive / Mississippi / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 172, NWS Memphis, TN

May 27, 1997Benton County, Mississippi; Hardeman County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1997, 4:44 AM CDT for Benton County, Mississippi; Hardeman County, Tennessee. It was in force for 46 min. 1 report 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, 4:44 AM CDT (09:44 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 5:30 AM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Benton County, MS, Hardeman County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:46 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 27, 5:00 AM CDT	Hail 0.88	Whiteville, 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 27, 2:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 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, 4 hours 30 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 27, 12:15 AM CDT, 4 hours 29 minutes before

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<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.
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        Please try again in a few minutes.
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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 5:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tallahatchie	49 min
May 27, 6:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chickasaw	46 min
May 26, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lauderdale	46 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Haywood	48 min
May 26, 7:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Haywood	32 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Madison	46 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Madison	35 min
May 26, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester	33 min
May 26, 9:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardeman	51 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	McNairy	48 min
May 26, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardin	46 min
May 27, 3:24 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Tipton	31 min
May 27, 3:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby	48 min
May 27, 4:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette	33 min
May 26, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	45 min
May 26, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	50 min
May 26, 10:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	49 min
May 26, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	34 min
May 26, 11:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	49 min
May 26, 11:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lawrence	34 min
May 26, 11:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Greene	47 min
May 26, 11:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead	48 min
May 27, 1:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	34 min
May 27, 1:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Craighead	48 min
May 27, 1:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead	30 min
May 27, 2:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Poinsett	49 min
May 27, 2:39 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Cross, Poinsett	31 min
May 27, 3:06 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crittenden	49 min
May 27, 3:12 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Mississippi, Poinsett	48 min

Nearby

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