Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Mississippi County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 6:11 PM CST for Mississippi County, Arkansas. It was in force for 49 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, 6:11 PM CST (00:11 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 7:00 PM CST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Mississippi County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:13 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 1, 6:20 PM CST	Tornado F4	Lennie, 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 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 491 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 020012
TORMEM
ARC093-020100-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI COUNTY
 
AT 609 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST EAST OF
CARAWAY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR SHADY
GROVE AND MANILA BETWEEN 615 PM AND 630 PM.

.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, 7:24 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Mississippi	4 hr
Mar 1, 7:42 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Cross, Poinsett	4 hr
Mar 1, 7:48 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Craighead	4 hr
Mar 1, 9:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Phillips	32 min
Mar 1, 10:03 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Crittenden	4 hr

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.