Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Memphis, TN

March 1, 1997Dyer County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 7:10 PM CST for Dyer County, Tennessee. It was in force for 35 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, 7:10 PM CST (01:10 UTC)
Expired
Mar 1, 1997, 7:45 PM CST
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Dyer County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:14 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Mar 1, 2:30 PM CSTTornado WatchSPC7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 145 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1997-03-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 491 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1997-03-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -47 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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 020110
TORMEM
TNC045-020145-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...DYER COUNTY
 
AT 705 PM..SPOTTER REPORTS INDICATED A TORNADO WEST OF DYERSBURG
MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 50 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PASS BY NEWBORN BY
720 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...PHILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 1, 7:01 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGDyer44 min
Mar 1, 7:26 PM CSTTornado WarningMEGGibson34 min
Mar 1, 7:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGWeakley35 min
Mar 1, 8:04 PM CSTTornado WarningMEGHenry, Weakley51 min
Mar 1, 8:16 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGDyer, Gibson, Obion, Weakley5 hr
Mar 1, 8:41 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGShelby34 min
Mar 1, 8:48 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGTipton32 min
Mar 1, 9:05 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHaywood45 min
Mar 1, 9:17 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGFayette, Haywood, Shelby, Tipton3 hr
Mar 1, 10:03 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGShelby4 hr
Mar 1, 10:36 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGChester, Hardeman, Madison4 hr
Mar 1, 10:36 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGCarroll, Henderson4 hr
Mar 1, 10:47 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette33 min
Mar 1, 11:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChester, Hardeman35 min
Mar 2, 12:27 AM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGFayette2 hr
Mar 2, 12:56 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChester, McNairy34 min
Mar 2, 2:11 AM CSTFlash Flood WarningMEGMcNairy119 min

Nearby

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