Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Mobile, AL

January 24, 1997Escambia County, Florida

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 24, 1997, 6:55 PM CST for Escambia County, Florida. It was in force for 35 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, 6:55 PM CST (00:55 UTC)
Expired: Jan 24, 1997, 7:30 PM CST
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Escambia County, FL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:55 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, 6:55 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Cantonment, FL
Jan 24, 7:02 PM CST	Hail 1	Ensley, FL

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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 230 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: 2070 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 751 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.2
Supercell composite: 7.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 250056 RRA
TORMOB
FLC033-250130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
655 PM CST FRI JAN 24 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST FLORIDA
 
 ...ESCAMBIA COUNTY
 
AT 655 PM...NWS DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO LOCATED JUST
EAST OF SEMINOLE. THIS STORM WILL MOVE DUE EAST AND WILL PASS SOUTH OF
CANTONMENT THROUGH 730 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
GJM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 24, 6:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	64 min
Jan 24, 7:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Okaloosa, Santa Rosa	60 min
Jan 24, 7:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Santa Rosa	67 min
Jan 24, 7:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	69 min
Jan 24, 7:51 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Okaloosa	69 min
Jan 24, 9:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	68 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Florida, 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.