Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Mobile, AL

April 22, 1997Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 22, 1997, 5:19 PM CDT for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 41 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: Apr 22, 1997, 5:19 PM CDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired: Apr 22, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Clarke County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:19 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, 5:45 PM CDT	Hail 1	Thomasville, AL	Hail again fell around the city of Thomasville. This time the hail was as big as quarters.

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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 184 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: 1177 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -86 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 543 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

224 
WFUS1 KMOB 222219 RRA
TORMOB
ALC025-222300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
519 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...NORTHERN CLARKE COUNTY
 
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO OVER NORTHWESTERN CLARKE
COUNTY NEAR CAMPBELL. THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING BETWEEN BASHI AND NEAR
THE THOMASVILLE AREA BETWEEN 530 AND 550 PM. MOVEMENT IS TO THE EAST
NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
 
 
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.

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, 4:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Choctaw	36 min
Apr 22, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	56 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.