Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 18, NWS Memphis, TN
NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 7:26 PM CST for Gibson County, Tennessee. It was in force for 34 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, 7:26 PM CST (01:26 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 1, 1997, 8:00 PM CST
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Memphis, TN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Gibson County, TN
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:29 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, 7:30 PM CST | Tornado F4 | Yorkville, TN |
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, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 159 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMEM 020127 TORMEM TNC053-020200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 726 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WESTERN TENNESSEE ...GIBSON COUNTY AT 722 PM CST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO FIVE MILES WEST OF EATON MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR DYER AND RUTHERFORD BETWEEN 735 PM AND 750 PM. THIS STORM HAS HAD A HISTORY OF EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO HOMES IN THE DYERSBURG AREA. .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, 7:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Dyer | 44 min |
| Mar 1, 7:10 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Dyer | 35 min |
| Mar 1, 7:40 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Weakley | 35 min |
| Mar 1, 8:04 PM CST | Tornado Warning | MEG | Henry, Weakley | 51 min |
| Mar 1, 8:16 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Dyer, Gibson, Obion, Weakley | 5 hr |
| Mar 1, 8:41 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Shelby | 34 min |
| Mar 1, 8:48 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Tipton | 32 min |
| Mar 1, 9:05 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Haywood | 45 min |
| Mar 1, 9:17 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Fayette, Haywood, Shelby, Tipton | 3 hr |
| Mar 1, 10:03 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Shelby | 4 hr |
| Mar 1, 10:36 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Chester, Hardeman, Madison | 4 hr |
| Mar 1, 10:36 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Carroll, Henderson | 4 hr |
| Mar 1, 10:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Fayette | 33 min |
| Mar 1, 11:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Chester, Hardeman | 35 min |
| Mar 2, 12:27 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | Fayette | 2 hr |
| Mar 2, 12:56 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MEG | Chester, McNairy | 34 min |
| Mar 2, 2:11 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | MEG | McNairy | 119 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.