Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 32, NWS Memphis, TN

May 26, 1997Madison County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT for Madison 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
May 26, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT (01:30 UTC)
Expired
May 26, 1997, 9:05 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Memphis, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Madison County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:30 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
May 26, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr
May 26, 8:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 133 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 1997-05-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4008 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 1997-05-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 30 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
4008 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
884 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
4.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMEM 270131
TORMEM
TNC113-270205-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
830 PM CDT MON MAY 26 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 905 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...MADISON COUNTY
 
AT 828 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO ALONG
INTERSTATE 40 OR 7 MILES WEST OF JACKSON. THIS STORM IS MOVING
SOUTHEAST 25 MPH AND WILL PASS NEAR MCKELLAR AIRPORT BY 835 AND
BEMIS BY 840 PM AND PINSON BY 850 PM.

.THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OT0HERWISE...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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 26, 7:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLauderdale46 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHaywood48 min
May 26, 7:58 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGHaywood32 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMadison46 min
May 26, 9:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChester33 min
May 26, 9:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman51 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMcNairy48 min
May 26, 9:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardin46 min
May 27, 3:24 AM CDTTornado WarningMEGTipton31 min
May 27, 3:37 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGShelby48 min
May 27, 4:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGFayette33 min
May 27, 4:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHardeman46 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.