Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Mobile, AL

January 15, 1997Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 15, 1997, 6:14 PM CST for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 61 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: Jan 15, 1997, 6:14 PM CST (00:14 UTC)
Expired: Jan 15, 1997, 7:15 PM CST
In force: 61 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 00:13 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 15, 7:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Bolinger, AL

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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 190 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 753 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 490 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 732 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 160016 RRA
TORMOB
ALC023-160115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
614 PM CST WED JAN 15 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CHOCTAW COUNTY
 
AT 614 PM...MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM
TWO MILES SOUTH OF GRETNA. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR BOLINGER AND WOMACK
HILL THROUGH 713 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.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 15, 6:04 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	56 min
Jan 15, 6:18 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Butler, Conecuh	57 min
Jan 15, 6:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	64 min
Jan 15, 6:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	68 min
Jan 15, 7:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Monroe	67 min
Jan 15, 8:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	57 min
Jan 15, 9:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	44 min
Jan 15, 10:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington	67 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.