Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Memphis, TN

May 26, 1997Craighead County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1997, 11:57 PM CDT for Craighead County, Arkansas. It was in force for 48 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, 11:57 PM CDT (04:57 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 12:45 AM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Craighead County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:59 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 26, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 127 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: 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.

879 
WFUS1 KMEM 270459 RRA
TORMEM
ARC031-270545-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1157 PM CDT MON MAY 26 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...CRAIGHEAD COUNTY
 
AT 1155 PM CDT...LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS REPORTED A POSSIBLE
TORNADO ALONG HIGHWAY 63 NEAR SEDGEWICK IN SOUTHEAST LAWRENCE
COUNTY. THIS STORM IS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL BE IN THE
BONO AREA BETWEEN 1205 AND 1215 AM AND PASS NORTH OF JONESBORO
AROUND 1225 AM.

.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. OTHERWISE...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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 26, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Mississippi	46 min
May 26, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	45 min
May 26, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	50 min
May 26, 10:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	49 min
May 26, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Randolph	34 min
May 26, 11:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	49 min
May 26, 11:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lawrence	34 min
May 26, 11:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Greene	47 min
May 27, 1:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lawrence	34 min
May 27, 1:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Craighead	48 min
May 27, 1:40 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead	30 min
May 27, 2:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Poinsett	49 min
May 27, 2:39 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Cross, Poinsett	31 min
May 27, 3:06 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crittenden	49 min
May 27, 3:12 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Mississippi, Poinsett	48 min

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.