Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 42, NWS Mobile, AL

October 25, 1997Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 25, 1997, 6:39 PM CDT for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 36 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, 6:39 PM CDT (23:39 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT
In force: 36 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 23:40 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, 6:50 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Axis, AL	The same storm that spawned a tornado near Wilmer blew down several trees and power lines as it moved across U S Highway 43 near Axis.

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
Oct 25, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 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.

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: 2541 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 486 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 191 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 12.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 252341 RRA
TORMOB
ALC097-260015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
639 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...MOBILE COUNTY
 
AT 637 PM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADARS SHOWED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM
ABOUT 3 MILES EAST OF CHUNCHULA. THIS STORM WILL BE CROSSING
HWY 43...ABOUT 2 MILES NORTH OF AXIS BETWEEN 645 AND 7 PM.
 
THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 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
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, 3:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Choctaw	67 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, 6:50 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.