Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 26, NWS Mobile, AL
NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1997, 5:03 PM CDT for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 42 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
- Jul 18, 1997, 5:03 PM CDT (22:03 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 18, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 42 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 22:03 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 5:10 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | Alabama Port, AL | Several trees were blown down near Alabama Port. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 9:00 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 12 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 152 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
- 315 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 477 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -21 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -3 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMOB 182203 RRA TORMOB ALC097-182245- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 503 PM CDT FRI JUL 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA ...MOBILE COUNTY AT 459 PM...NWS DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO IN THE VICINITY OF ALABAMA PORT. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHWEST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN MOBILE COUNTY THROUGH 545 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 18, 2:46 PM CDT, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 2:46 PM CDT, 2 hours 17 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 245 PM CDT FRIN JUL 19 1997 NOT MUCH TIME FOR DISCUSSION AND NEEDLESS TO SAY...WITH LATEST MOVEMENT TRENDS WITH DANNY AND LOOK AT ALL MODELS...SEEMS THAT FA WL BE DEALING WITH +RA EVENT FOR NEXT CUPL DAYS. UPPER FLOW WL REMAIN WEAK OVR RGN THRU SUN MORNING...ALLOWING FOR DANNYS ENERGY TO COMBINE WITH DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE...THUS INCRG TORRENTIAL RAINFALL THREAT TO NRN GULF COAST. THEREFORE...WL KEEP QPF BASIN AVGS HI...ESPECIALLY NEAR COAST WHERE RAIN BANDS WILL CONT. WL SUGGEST A NEED TO CONT FFAS. ALTHO LATEST VWP SHOWS LTL IN THE WAY OF SPEED SHEAR FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS...AS RAINBANDS APPROACH LAND...FRICTIONAL INTERACTIONS WL KEEP THE POSSIBILITY OF TORNADOES IN FCST AS WELL AS WELL AS SQUALLY WX. TMPS WELL BLO SEASONAL NORMS WITH CLDS AND RAIN. FOR THE MOST PART DO NOT SUGGEST ANY MAJOR CHGS TO FCST AS ALL LOOKS OK. OVER THE OPEN GULF...HURRICANE WARNINGS WL CONT IN EFFECT THRU SAT MORNING WITH DANNY EXPECTED TO MOVE ONLY AT A SNAILS PACE TO THE NE. MOB 73/77/73/79 ++77 PNS 77/77/74/79 ++77 DTS 74/77/74/79 ++77 EVR 73/81/74/80 8877 10
The office that day
Everything else NWS Mobile, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 1:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB | Baldwin, Mobile | 48 min |
| Jul 18, 5:57 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Baldwin | 63 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.