Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 54, NWS Mobile, AL

November 21, 1997George County, Mississippi; Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 21, 1997, 7:08 PM CST for George County, Mississippi; Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 52 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: Nov 21, 1997, 7:08 PM CST (01:08 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 8:00 PM CST
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Mobile County, AL, George County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:09 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 21, 7:40 PM CST	Tornado F3	Saraland, AL	An F3 tornado touched down just east of I-65 in Saraland near Shelton Beach Estates. The tornado skipped east northeast along the ground before lifting back into the cloud near U S Highway 43. Three homes were almost completely gone, three more suffered maj

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 21, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 1557 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 793 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 220 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 302 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.6
Supercell composite: 10.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 220107 RRA
TORMOB
ALC097-MSC039-220200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
708 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...MOBILE COUNTY
 
IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
 
   ...GEORGE COUNTY
 
AT 705 PM CST...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO OVER EAST
GEORGE COUNTY 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF AGRICOLA MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30
MPH.
 
THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING INTO NORTH MOBILE COUNTY SOUTH OF
CHUNCHULA BY 730 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WOvRKBENCH 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 21, 7:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin, Escambia	67 min
Nov 21, 9:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	61 min
Nov 21, 9:27 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington, Escambia	48 min
Nov 21, 10:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Covington	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1997 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.