Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 36, NWS Mobile, AL

October 25, 1997Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 25, 1997, 3:38 PM CDT for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 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: Oct 25, 1997, 3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 67 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 20:37 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
Oct 25, 4:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Ararat, AL	Several trees and power lines were blown down near Ararat.

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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 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: 2580 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 503 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 109 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 8.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 252040 RRA
TORMOB
ALC023-252145-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
338 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  445 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CHOCTAW COUNTY
 
AT 334 PM CDT...NWS DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR IN MOBILE INDICATED A
DEVELOPING SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST WEST OF SILAS IN EXTREME SOUTHWEST
CHOCTAW COUNTY. THIS STORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE A TORNADO AS IT MOVES TO
NEAR BUTLER BY 430 PM CDT. A SECOND TORNADO PRODUCING THUNDERSTORM WILL
MOVE NORTHEAST OUT OF WAYNE COUNTY AFTER 415 PM AND WILL FOLLOW THE SAME
TRACK. ALL STORM MOVEMENT IS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 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
Oct 25, 9:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	56 min
Oct 25, 11:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	63 min
Oct 25, 1:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Butler	40 min
Oct 25, 1:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	61 min
Oct 25, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Crenshaw	63 min
Oct 25, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	60 min
Oct 25, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	56 min
Oct 25, 5:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Mobile	69 min
Oct 25, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	51 min
Oct 25, 6:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Baldwin	63 min
Oct 25, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Mobile	36 min
Oct 25, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	40 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.