Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 53, NWS Mobile, AL

November 21, 1997Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 21, 1997, 4:29 PM CST for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 61 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, 4:29 PM CST (22:29 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 5:30 PM CST
In force: 61 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 22:31 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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 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: 20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 981 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 212228 RRA
TORMOB
ALC097-212330-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
429 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...MOBILE COUNTY
 
AT 429 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MOBILE INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTHERN AND CENTRAL JACKSON COUNTY MS MOVING
EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
THIS STORM HAS HAD A HISTORY OF PRODUCING STRONG TORNADOES TO THE WEST
OVER MS AND LA DURING THE LAST 3 HOURS.
 
THIS STORM WILL BE AFFECTING AREAS FROM GRAND BAY TO MOBILE TO
CITRONELE...OR MOST OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PARTS OF THE COUNTY
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 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Nov 21, 2:37 PM CST, 1 hour 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 21, 2:37 PM CST, 1 hour 52 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
235 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

BUSY WX PATTERN WITH WW BOX 792/793 UP...SO WL BE BRIEF.  UPR AIR
SHOWS MID LVL TROF AND SERIES OF H3 100+ SPD MAXIMA ROUNDING BASE
ACRS SRN STATES. WHILE AT 18Z...SFC CD FNT PUSHING SLOWLY SE THRU E
TX. SFC LOW...ARKLAMISS RGN WILL TRACK IN RGN OF PRES FALLS.  WITH
APPROACH OF INSTABILITY AXIS ALG COAST...CLUSTERS OF SHWRS AND STMS
ARE LIGHTING UP RADAR AND A FEW ARE TURNING RIGHT...ENGULFING MORE
UNSTABLE AIR AND TAPPING BETTER HELICITY TO SUPPORT DEEP AND
PERSISTENT STM ROATATING UPDRAFTS.  WL BE INTERESTING LATE AFTERNOON
AND EVE. FNT IS LEFT BEHIND AS UPR DYNAMICS PRESENTLY OVR LWR MS VLY
EJECT RAPIDLY NE WITH MORE UPSTREAM ENERY YET TO APPROACH.  FNT TO W
OF AL WL CONT TO SUPPORT A WARM...MOIST...UNSTABLE AIRMASS TONIGHT
AND LINGERING CNVTV ATIVITY...BECOMING MORE STABLE DURING DAY SAT
AFTER FROPA.

OFFSHORE...LATEST BUOY DATA SHOWS WINDS SRLY WINDS 10 TO 15 KTS WL
INCR TO 15 TO 20 KTS AS PER LATEST ADJACENT COASTAL MTR.  SEAS 3 TO 5
FT IN GENERAL.  FROPA AND WIND SHIFT HOLDS BACK UNTIL SAT.

MOB 64/71/48/66 8200 PNS 66/71/48/66 8200
DTS 66/71/48/66 9200 EVR 64/69/44/65 920^0 10

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, 4:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	52 min
Nov 21, 4:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	55 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.