Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 247, NWS Mobile, AL

October 25, 1997Escambia County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 25, 1997, 7:35 PM CDT for Escambia County, Alabama. It was in force for 40 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: Oct 25, 1997, 7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Escambia County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:35 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
Oct 25, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr
Oct 25, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 231 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: 925 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 511 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 245 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 269 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 7.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 260037 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC053-260115-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
735 PM CDT (635 PM CST) SAT OCT 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM CDT (715 PM CST)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...ESCAMBIA COUNTY
 
AT 731 PM CDT...NWS DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR IN MOBILE INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO WESTERN ESCAMBIA COUNTY ALABAMA. THIS STORM HAS
A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGE. THIS STORM WILL MOVE TO MCCULLOUGH AND
HUXFORD AL THROUGH 8 PM CDT BEFORE ENTERING MONROE COUNTY JUST
NORTHWEST OF WALLACE THEREAFTER.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
 
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 25, 3:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 25, 3:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
255 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

NOT A LOT OF TIME TO LOOK AT DATA TODAY WITH STRONG/SEVERE TSTMS AND
TOR # 767. STRONGEST STORMS TODAY HAVE BEEN OVER EASTERN PART OF CWA
IN PART DUE TO RRQ OF EXITING JET MAX. MODEL DATA INDICATES
ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE STORMS LATE TONIGHT AND
TOMORROW...WITH STRONGEST DYNAMICS WEST OF MOB CWA...BUT SEVERE
STORMS STILL A GOOD BET OVER CWA. SFC FRONT PROGGED TO MOVE ACROSS
FCST AREA DURING THE DAY ON SUNDAY...ENDING SEVERE THREAT FROM WEST
TO EAST. TEMPS TO COOL ONCE AGAIN LATE IN THE PERIOD AFTER FROPA.
STILL WILL POSSIBLY SEE AREAS OF LATE NIGHT FOG...MAINLY OUTSIDE OF
RAIN AREAS.

OVER THE COASTAL WATERS...SCA'S WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGH PERIOD.
WINDS INITIALLY SOUTH AT 20 KNOTS AND GUSTY...SHIFTING WESTERLY ON
SUNDAY AND NWRLY BY LATE SUNDAY. SEAS REMAINING AROUND 6-8 FEET
THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...ROUGH ON PROTECTED WATERS.

MOB 68/76/55/64 6753  PNS 72/78/58/60 6753
DTS 71/79/60/67 6753  EVR 65/77/50/60 7753 12

The office that day

Everything else NWS Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	62 min
Oct 26, 12:55 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	35 min
Oct 26, 1:37 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	68 min
Oct 26, 2:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	30 min
Oct 26, 2:35 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	55 min
Oct 26, 3:07 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	38 min
Oct 26, 5:14 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe, Wilcox	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.