Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 27, NWS Memphis, TN

May 2, 1997Lowndes County, Mississippi

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 8:40 PM CDT for Lowndes County, Mississippi. It was in force for 35 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: May 2, 1997, 8:40 PM CDT (01:40 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Lowndes County, MS

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:41 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
May 2, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Caledonia, MS	A tornado touched down near the town of Caledonia. The only damage reported with the storm was several downed trees.

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
May 2, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 1924 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 894 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 170 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 279 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.0
Supercell composite: 11.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 030140 RRA
TORMEM
MSC087-030215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
840 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN MISSISSIPPI

   ...LOWNDES COUNTY
 
AT 838 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO ABOUT 4
MILES EAST OF WEST POINT..ALONG HIGHWAY 50. THE STORM WAS MOVING
EAST-NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL MOVE NEAR COLUMBUS AFB..AND NEAR
CALEDONIA BETWEEN 845 AND 905 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
BASEMTENT 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
May 2, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay	50 min
May 2, 8:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Clay	31 min
May 2, 8:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Monroe	33 min
May 2, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Yalobusha	33 min
May 2, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Lowndes	45 min
May 2, 10:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lowndes	32 min
May 2, 10:59 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Yalobusha	7 hr
May 2, 10:59 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MEG	Chickasaw, Lee	7 hr
May 2, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay	45 min
May 3, 12:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chickasaw, Monroe	35 min
May 3, 12:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Clay, Lowndes, Monroe	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 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.