Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Morristown, TN

July 4, 1997Hawkins County, Tennessee

NWS Morristown, TN issued this tornado warning at Jul 4, 1997, 6:19 PM EDT for Hawkins County, Tennessee. It was in force for 26 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
Jul 4, 1997, 6:19 PM EDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired
Jul 4, 1997, 6:45 PM EDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Morristown, TN
Area
Whole counties

County Hawkins County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:22 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

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 276 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-07-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 1997-07-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -12 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1974 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
23 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 KMRX 042221 RRA
TORMRX
TNC073-042245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES TN
619 PM EDT FRI JUL 4 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN KNOXVILLE TRI CITIES HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST TENNESSEE
 
   ...HAWKINS COUNTY
 
AT 620 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO WEST OF
SURGOINSVILLE MOVING EAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR. THIS STORM WILL MOVE INTO
THE SURGOINSVILLE AREA BY 635.
 
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 Morristown, TN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 4, 4:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXCumberland45 min
Jul 4, 4:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMeigs, Rhea65 min
Jul 4, 4:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXRoane25 min
Jul 4, 5:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXKnox, Loudon55 min
Jul 4, 5:37 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXJefferson38 min
Jul 4, 5:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBlount64 min
Jul 4, 5:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamblen25 min
Jul 4, 5:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXSevier65 min
Jul 4, 6:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHawkins49 min
Jul 4, 6:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamilton65 min
Jul 4, 6:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXCocke, Greene62 min
Jul 4, 6:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBlount, Monroe58 min
Jul 4, 6:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBradley, Polk66 min
Jul 4, 7:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXClaiborne, Hancock29 min
Jul 4, 7:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXGrainger, Hawkins69 min
Jul 4, 7:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamblen50 min
Jul 4, 7:37 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXHawkins38 min
Jul 4, 7:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXGreene63 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.