Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 49, NWS Mobile, AL

November 1, 1997Choctaw County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 1, 1997, 2:10 PM CST for Choctaw County, Alabama. It was in force for 65 min. 2 reports 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: Nov 1, 1997, 2:10 PM CST (20:10 UTC)
Expired: Nov 1, 1997, 3:15 PM CST
In force: 65 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 20:24 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
Nov 1, 2:10 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Gilbertown, AL	Golf ball size hail was reported near the community of Gilbertown.
Nov 1, 2:15 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Butler, AL	Golfball size hail was reported near Butler.

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
Nov 1, 1:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 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: 1991 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 477 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 6.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 012012 RRA
TORMOB
ALC023-012115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
210 PM CST SAT NOV 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CHOCTAW COUNTY
 
AT 210 PM CST MOBILE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 6 MILES
NORTH OF BOLINGER. THE STORM CONTAINING THE DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS MOVEMENT WILL TAKE IT TO ARARAT BY 3
PM. GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM AT 208 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
Nov 1, 12:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw, Clarke, Washington	2 hr
Nov 1, 1:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Covington	59 min
Nov 1, 2:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	54 min
Nov 1, 2:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Washington	2 hr
Nov 1, 2:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	2 hr
Nov 1, 2:56 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	64 min
Nov 1, 3:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	61 min
Nov 1, 3:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	27 min
Nov 1, 3:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	58 min
Nov 1, 3:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	58 min
Nov 1, 3:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	63 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.