Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 44, NWS Mobile, AL

October 26, 1997Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 26, 1997, 1:37 AM CDT for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Oct 26, 1997, 1:37 AM CDT (06:37 UTC)
Expired: Oct 26, 1997, 1:45 AM CST
In force: 68 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Clarke County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:41 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 194 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: 925 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 511 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 245 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 269 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 7.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 260639 RRA
TORMOB
ALC025-260745-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
137 AM CDT (1237 AM CST) SUN OCT 26 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 AM CDT (145 AM CST)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CLARKE COUNTY
 
AT 135 PM CDT...NWS DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR IN MOBILE INDICATED A TORNADO
BETWEEN JACKSON AND MCINTOSH ALABAMA. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT
28 MPH AND WILL MOVE TO NEAR ALMA BY 230 PM.
 
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, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	40 min
Oct 25, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	62 min
Oct 26, 12:55 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	35 min
Oct 26, 2:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	30 min
Oct 26, 2:35 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	55 min
Oct 26, 3:07 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	38 min
Oct 26, 5:14 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe, Wilcox	2 hr

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.