Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 52, NWS Mobile, AL

November 21, 1997Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 21, 1997, 4:08 PM CST for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 52 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: Nov 21, 1997, 4:08 PM CST (22:08 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 5:00 PM CST
In force: 52 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 22:12 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Nov 21, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 184 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: 76 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 212206 RRA
TORMOB
ALC025-212300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
408 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...CLARKE COUNTY
 
AT 405 PM CST...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
JUST EAST OF THE TOWN OF SALITPA MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING OVER HIGHWAY 43 TO THE EAST MOVING TOWARDS
THE TOWNS OF GROVEHILL AND WHATLEY DURING THE NEXT HOUR.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FU>RNITURE.
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 21, 3:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Wilcox	60 min
Nov 21, 4:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	55 min
Nov 21, 4:29 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Mobile	61 min
Nov 21, 4:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	58 min
Nov 21, 5:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	69 min
Nov 21, 5:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Crenshaw	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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.