Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Cross County, Poinsett County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 5:19 PM CST for Cross County, Poinsett County, Arkansas. It was in force for 46 min. 3 reports 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, 5:19 PM CST (23:19 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 6:05 PM CST
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Cross County, AR, Poinsett County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:18 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
Mar 1, 5:25 PM CST	Tornado F3	Hickory Ridge, AR
Mar 1, 5:40 PM CST	Tornado F3	Fisher, AR
Mar 1, 6:00 PM CST	Hail 1	Trumann, 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, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 97 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 012319
TORMEM
ARC037-111-020005-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 605 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...NORTHWESTERN CROSS COUNTY
   ...POINSETT COUNTY
 
AT6 516 PM...DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN EXTREME
SOUTHEAST JACKSON COUNTY ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HICKORY RIDGE.
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL AFFECT HICKORY
RIDGE...BRUSHY LAKE AND HARRISBURG BY 540 PM.

.THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVDE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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, 5:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Clay	49 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.