Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Mobile, AL

April 22, 1997Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 22, 1997, 4:54 PM CDT for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 36 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: Apr 22, 1997, 4:54 PM CDT (21:54 UTC)
Expired: Apr 22, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 36 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 21:54 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
Apr 22, 5:00 PM CDT	Hail 1	Barrytown, AL	Quarter size hail fell in and around Barrytown.
Apr 22, 5:19 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Butler, AL	Dime size hail was reported five miles south of Butler.

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
Apr 22, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	8 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 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: 1284 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 222154 RRA
TORMOB
ALC023-222230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
454 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CHOCTAW COUNTY
 
WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO BETWEEN GILBERTOWN AND
BOLINGER IN CHOCTAW COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
 
 
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 SHELTER 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
Apr 22, 2:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	68 min
Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Wilcox	60 min
Apr 22, 3:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	65 min
Apr 22, 3:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	63 min
Apr 22, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	56 min
Apr 22, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	56 min
Apr 22, 5:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	41 min
Apr 22, 5:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Wilcox	59 min
Apr 22, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	63 min
Apr 22, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	67 min
Apr 22, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	66 min
Apr 22, 6:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	57 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.