Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Memphis, TN

May 27, 1997Mississippi County, Poinsett County, Arkansas

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1997, 3:12 AM CDT for Mississippi County, Poinsett 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 27, 1997, 3:12 AM CDT (08:12 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 4:00 AM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Mississippi County, AR, Poinsett County, AR

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:13 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 27, 2:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 100 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.

871 
WFUS1 KMEM 270814 RRA
TORMEM
ARC093-111-270900-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHEASTERN ARKANSAS

   ...SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI COUNTY
   ...EASTERN POINSETT COUNTY
 
AT 310 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN
EASTERN POINSETT COUNTY JUST EAST OF MARKED TREE. THIS STORM IS
MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI COUNTY
BY 320 AM AND AFFECT WILSON AND BASSETT BY 330 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, 2:39 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Cross, Poinsett	31 min
May 27, 3:06 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Crittenden	49 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.