Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Mobile, AL

January 24, 1997Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 24, 1997, 5:32 AM CST for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 58 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: Jan 24, 1997, 5:32 AM CST (11:32 UTC)
Expired: Jan 24, 1997, 6:30 AM CST
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Choctaw County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 149 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:36 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
Jan 24, 6:00 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Bolinger, AL

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 nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 00:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 174 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: 249 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 485 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 249 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 316 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 241133 RRA
TORMOB
ALC023-241230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
532 AM CST FRI JAN 24 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CHOCTAW COUNTY
 
AT 530 AM CST MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
JUST EAST OF CHOCTAW COUNTY ALABAMA WHICH WILL AFFECT SILAS BY 600 AM.
LARGE HAIL CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED NEAR AND ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORNADO.
 
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 SHFELTER 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 Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 24, 5:36 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	69 min
Jan 24, 5:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	55 min
Jan 24, 6:02 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	58 min
Jan 24, 6:31 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	59 min
Jan 24, 6:34 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	56 min
Jan 24, 6:51 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	54 min
Jan 24, 7:05 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	55 min
Jan 24, 7:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	55 min
Jan 24, 8:05 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	55 min
Jan 24, 8:11 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	64 min
Jan 24, 8:22 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	68 min
Jan 24, 9:25 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	65 min
Jan 24, 4:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	64 min
Jan 24, 5:04 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Mobile	56 min
Jan 24, 5:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	55 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 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.