Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 27, NWS Mobile, AL
NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1997, 5:57 PM CDT for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 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, 5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 18, 1997, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Mobile, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Baldwin County, AL
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:58 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, 6:02 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Orange Beach, AL | A tornado developed along the outer bands of hurricane Danny and moved in from the Gulf and destroyed a marina just south of Orange Beach. Several boats in the marina were damaged. The tornado was only on the ground for a short period of time. No one was in |
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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 192 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 182257 RRA TORMOB ALC003-190000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL 557 PM CDT FRI JUL 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA ...BALDWIN COUNTY AT 553 PM CDT...NWS DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR IN MOBILE INDICATED A TORNADO MOVING IN OFF THE GULF OF MEXICO. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED JUST OFFSHORE FROM ORANGE BEACH AND WILL MOVE WEST-NORTHWEST OVER THE BEACH COMMUNITIES OF BALDWIN COUNTY. OTHER TORNADIC STORMS WILL MOVE IN OFF THE GULF DURING THE NEXT HOUR. 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 CULVE@RT.
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, 5:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MOB | Mobile | 42 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.