Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 36, NWS Memphis, TN

May 27, 1997Cross County, Poinsett County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1997, 2:39 AM CDT for Cross County, Poinsett County, Arkansas. It was in force for 31 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 27, 1997, 2:39 AM CDT (07:39 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 3:10 AM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Cross County, AR, Poinsett County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:43 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 27, 2:48 AM CDT	Tornado F2	Vanndale, AR	A tornado touched down near the town of Vanndale. Nearly 100 residential homes were damaged or destroyed. Three dozen mobile homes were damaged or destroyed. Three persons were injured. One cow was killed. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down.

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 26, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 97 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.

676 
WFUS1 KMEM 270740 RRA
TORMEM
ARC037-ARC111-270810-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
239 AM CDT TUE MAY 27 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 310 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...SOUTHERN POINSETT COUNTY
   ...NORTHERN CROSS COUNTY
 
AT 235 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 5 MILES
EAST OF HICKORY RIDGE ALONG HIGHWAY 42. THIS STORM IS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL AFFECT WHITEHALL BY 245 AM AND LAKE
POINSETT STATE PARK BY 3OO AM.

.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
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 26, 11:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Craighead	48 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.