Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Memphis, TN

May 27, 1997Tipton County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 27, 1997, 3:24 AM CDT for Tipton County, Tennessee. 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, 3:24 AM CDT (08:24 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1997, 3:55 AM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Tipton County, TN

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:24 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, 3:45 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Brighton, TN	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 27, 2:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 76 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.

931 
WFUS1 KMEM 270825 RRA
TORMEM
TNC167-270855-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 355 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...TIPTON COUNTY
 
AT 321 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI COUNTY ARKANSAS NEAR BASSETT. THIS STORM IS
MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN TIPTON COUNTY BY
335 AM AND SHOULD PASS BETWEEN BRIGHTON AND COVINGTON BY 345 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	Lauderdale	46 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Haywood	48 min
May 26, 7:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Haywood	32 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Madison	46 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Madison	35 min
May 26, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester	33 min
May 26, 9:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardeman	51 min
May 26, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	McNairy	48 min
May 26, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardin	46 min
May 27, 3:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Shelby	48 min
May 27, 4:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette	33 min
May 27, 4:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardeman	46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 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.