Alert archive / Arkansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 43, NWS Memphis, TN

February 28, 1997Clay County, Randolph County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 28, 1997, 2:58 PM CST for Clay County, Randolph County, Arkansas. It was in force for 32 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, 2:58 PM CST (20:58 UTC)
Expired: Feb 28, 1997, 3:30 PM CST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Clay County, AR, Randolph County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 136 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:59 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, 3:01 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Biggers, 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 183 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 282058 RRA
SVRMEM
ARC021-121-282130-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...WESTERN CLAY COUNTY

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...EASTERN RANDOLPH COUNTY
 
AT 256 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
BIGGERS. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL AFFECT
SUCCESS BY 315 PM.

.SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YhOUR
PROTECTION...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 28, 1:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Poinsett	47 min
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, 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.