Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 30, NWS Nashville, TN

March 1, 1997Lawrence County, Lewis County, Tennessee

NWS Nashville, TN issued this tornado warning at Mar 1, 1997, 1:13 AM CST for Lawrence County, Lewis County, Tennessee. It was in force for 47 min. 3 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: Mar 1, 1997, 1:13 AM CST (07:13 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 2:00 AM CST
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Nashville, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:13 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
Mar 1, 1:25 AM CST	Tornado F2	Napier, TN	5 homes were damaged and a barn was destroyed. Path length and width of tornado are approximations.
Mar 1, 1:37 AM CST	Tornado F2	New Haven, TN	2 houses were damaged and 1 trailer destroyed in Lawrence county.
Mar 1, 1:40 AM CST	Tornado F1	Napier, TN

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
Mar 1, 1:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 535 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 644 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 328 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBNA 010715 RRA
TORBNA
TNC099-101-010800-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
113 AM CST SAT MAR 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NASHVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
 
   ...LAWRENCE COUNTY...LEWIS COUNTY
 
AT 113 AM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO MOVING NORTHEAST
NEAR 45 MILES AN HOUR. THIS TORNADO WILL MOVE VERY CLOSE TO THE NORTHERN
LAWRENCE/SOUTHERN LEWIS COUNTY LINE.
 
 
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
Feb 28, 7:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Davidson	38 min
Mar 1, 12:36 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Wayne	54 min
Mar 1, 1:04 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Wayne	26 min
Mar 1, 1:41 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Maury	49 min
Mar 1, 2:13 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Williamson	47 min
Mar 1, 2:49 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Stewart	41 min
Mar 1, 2:53 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Williamson	52 min
Mar 1, 2:55 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Davidson	65 min
Mar 1, 2:58 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Wayne	62 min
Mar 1, 3:34 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Lawrence	56 min
Mar 1, 3:47 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Sumner	28 min
Mar 1, 3:55 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Benton, Decatur	35 min
Mar 1, 3:59 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Humphreys	61 min
Mar 1, 4:09 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Macon, Sumner	36 min
Mar 1, 4:29 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Dickson	61 min
Mar 1, 4:33 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Decatur	42 min
Mar 1, 4:37 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Benton	3 hr
Mar 1, 5:11 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Dickson, Humphreys	3 hr
Mar 1, 5:11 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Decatur	3 hr
Mar 1, 5:19 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Robertson	26 min
Mar 1, 6:12 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Cheatham, Robertson, Sumner	3 hr
Mar 1, 6:55 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX	Perry	65 min
Mar 1, 7:10 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Perry	50 min
Mar 1, 7:17 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Decatur	43 min
Mar 1, 7:21 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Hickman	54 min
Mar 1, 8:05 AM CST	Tornado Warning	OHX	Williamson	40 min
Mar 1, 10:24 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Stewart	3 hr
Mar 1, 1:11 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Stewart	3 hr
Mar 1, 1:26 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	OHX	Montgomery	3 hr

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.