Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Mobile, AL
NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 24, 1997, 5:04 PM CST for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 56 min. 2 reports 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, 5:04 PM CST (23:04 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 24, 1997, 6:00 PM CST
- In force
- 56 min
- Issued by
- NWS Mobile, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mobile County, AL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:05 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, 5:10 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Grand Bay, AL | |
| Jan 24, 5:23 PM CST | Hail 2 | Theodore, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 4:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 255 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 543 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 578 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 330 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 342 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.2
- Supercell composite
- 4.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMOB 242305 RRA TORMOB ALC097-250000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 504 PM CST FRI JAN 24 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA ...MOBILE COUNTY AT 504 PM...A TORNADO WAS MOVING ONSHORE IN THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF MOBILE COUNTY. THE TORNADO WILL PASS JUST SOUTH OF GRAND BAY AND MOVE TOWARDS IRVINGTON THROUGH 6 PM. DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRpUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 5:32 AM CST | Tornado Warning | MOB | Choctaw | 58 min |
| 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, 5:35 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 55 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.