Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Memphis, TN

February 28, 1997Poinsett County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 28, 1997, 1:23 PM CST for Poinsett County, Arkansas. It was in force for 47 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: Feb 28, 1997, 1:23 PM CST (19:23 UTC)
Expired: Feb 28, 1997, 2:10 PM CST
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Poinsett County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:24 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
Feb 28, 2:00 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Harrisburg, AR

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 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 105 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: 1491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 284 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 281923 RRA
SVRMEM
ARC111-282010-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
123 PM CST FRI FEB 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 210 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...WESTERN POINSETT COUNTY
 
AT 121 PM..A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER WEATHER
RADAR JUST EAST OF FISHER. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT
50 MPH AND WILL PASS BETWEEN WALDENBURG AND HARRISBURG BY 145 PM.

.WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELE&CTRICAL 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 28, 1:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Craighead	46 min
Feb 28, 2:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Greene	49 min
Feb 28, 2:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Randolph	32 min
Feb 28, 5:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Crittenden, St. Francis	49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arkansas, 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.