Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Clay County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 5:11 PM CST for Clay County, Arkansas. It was in force for 49 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 1, 1997, 5:11 PM CST (23:11 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 6:00 PM CST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Clay County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:13 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.

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, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 176 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 012311
TORMEM
ARC021-020000-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...EASTERN CLAY COUNTY
 
AT 503 PM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS INDICATED A
TORNADO NEAR RECTOR MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS STORM WI.LL PASS
NEAR NEAR RECTOR BY 515 PM AND PIGGOTT BY 530 PM.


.IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW
SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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, 4:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Greene	32 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.