Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Greene County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 4:38 PM CST for Greene 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: Mar 1, 1997, 4:38 PM CST (22:38 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 5:10 PM CST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Greene County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:38 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
Mar 1, 4:45 PM CST	Tornado F3	Fontaine, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 1, 12:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 153 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: 1288 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 477 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 230 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.9
Supercell composite: 6.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 012239
TORMEM
ARC055-012310-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
438 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 510 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...GREENE COUNTY
 
AT 435 PM CST...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR
AND SPOTTER REPORTS 3 MILES WEST OF WALCOTT MOVING NORTHEAST AT
45 MPH.

THIS TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR GAINSVILLE BY 445 PM CST AND MARMADUKE
BY 455 PM CST.

.IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO
BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A
CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 1, 8:31 AM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Mississippi	49 min
Mar 1, 1:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay	32 min
Mar 1, 3:59 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lawrence	46 min
Mar 1, 5:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Clay	49 min
Mar 1, 5:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Cross, Poinsett	46 min
Mar 1, 5:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead	46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.