Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Nashville, TN

January 24, 1997Rutherford County, Williamson County, Tennessee

NWS Nashville, TN issued this tornado warning at Jan 24, 1997, 4:22 PM CST for Rutherford County, Williamson County, Tennessee. It was in force for 53 min. 4 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: Jan 24, 1997, 4:22 PM CST (22:22 UTC)
Expired: Jan 24, 1997, 5:15 PM CST
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS Nashville, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Rutherford County, TN, Williamson County, TN

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 43 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jan 24, 4:25 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Nolensville, TN
Jan 24, 4:37 PM CST	Tornado F2	Smyrna, TN
Jan 24, 4:45 PM CST	Hail 1.75	La Vergne, TN
Jan 24, 5:00 PM CST	Tornado F4	Murfreesboro, TN	This was one of those extraordinary cases where the National Weather Service had a 41 minute lead time on a tornado warning . The F4 tornado struck the Southridge Subdivision, near Barfield, TN, at 503 PM. The tornado caused 18 injuries and 4.7 million dollars

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
Jan 24, 3:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 30 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 480 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 73 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 508 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 610 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 KBNA 242223 RRA
TORBNA
TNC149-187-242315-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
422 PM CST FRI JAN 24 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NASHVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
 
   ...RUTHERFORD COUNTY...WILLIAMSON COUNTY
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH POSSBILE TORNADOES WERE LOCATED 10 MILES
NORTHEAST OF FRANKLIN...ANOTHER NEAR I-65 ON THE MAURY-WILLIAMSON COUNTY
LINE...AND YET ANOTHER 5 MILES WEST OF FRANKLIN. THESE TORNADOES ARE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR TOWARD THE TOWNS OF
LAVERGNE...SMYRNA...MURFREESBORO...EAGLEVILLE...FRANKLIN...AND
BRENTWOOD. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
 
 
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 Nashville, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 24, 9:15 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Bledsoe, Marion, Sequatchie	3 hr
Jan 24, 2:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Decatur	48 min
Jan 24, 2:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Perry	40 min
Jan 24, 2:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Benton, Houston, Humphreys, Stewart	44 min
Jan 24, 2:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Macon	44 min
Jan 24, 2:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Hickman	44 min
Jan 24, 3:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Hickman	29 min
Jan 24, 3:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Montgomery	55 min
Jan 24, 3:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Perry	35 min
Jan 24, 3:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Lewis, Maury	58 min
Jan 24, 3:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Hickman	30 min
Jan 24, 3:33 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Maury, Williamson	57 min
Jan 24, 3:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Maury	46 min
Jan 24, 3:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Robertson	35 min
Jan 24, 3:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Giles, Lawrence	46 min
Jan 24, 4:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Davidson	46 min
Jan 24, 4:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Wilson	65 min
Jan 24, 4:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Lincoln	61 min
Jan 24, 5:05 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Cannon	55 min
Jan 24, 5:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Smith	50 min
Jan 24, 5:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Rutherford	34 min
Jan 24, 5:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Sumner	46 min
Jan 24, 5:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Sumner	31 min
Jan 24, 5:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Franklin, Moore	49 min
Jan 24, 5:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Rutherford	43 min
Jan 24, 5:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	DeKalb	43 min
Jan 24, 5:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Macon, Sumner	43 min
Jan 24, 5:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Jackson	39 min
Jan 24, 5:36 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Jackson, Putnam	54 min
Jan 24, 5:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Franklin	41 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 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.