Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Springfield, MO

April 20, 1997St. Clair County, Missouri

NWS Springfield, MO issued this tornado warning at Apr 20, 1997, 5:11 PM CDT for St. Clair County, Missouri. It was in force for 34 min. 2 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: Apr 20, 1997, 5:11 PM CDT (22:11 UTC)
Expired: Apr 20, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Springfield, MO
Area: Whole counties

County St. Clair County, MO

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:13 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
Apr 20, 5:20 PM CDT	Hail 1	Osceola, MO
Apr 20, 5:25 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Lowry City, MO

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 nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 126 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: 2121 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 215 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 KSGF 202211 RRA
TORSGF
MOC185-202245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
511 PM CDT SUN APR 20 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN ST. CLAIR COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
  OHIO BY 515 PM
  JOHNSON CITY BY 515 PM
  LOWRY CITY BY 520 PM

* AT 510 PM SPRINGFIELD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 2 SOUTHEAST OF APPLETON CITY OR 12 MILES NORTHWEST
  OF OSCEOLA.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
IF YOU SPOT A TORNADO...NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN IT IN A CAR.  CARS ARE
EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.

GORDON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Springfield, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 20, 4:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	St. Clair	48 min
Apr 20, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton	66 min
Apr 20, 5:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Benton	51 min
Apr 20, 5:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Hickory, St. Clair	48 min
Apr 20, 5:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Barton, Dade	64 min
Apr 20, 6:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Hickory	47 min
Apr 20, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Newton	48 min
Apr 20, 6:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Camden	47 min
Apr 20, 6:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, St. Clair	35 min
Apr 20, 6:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Barton, Dade	50 min
Apr 20, 6:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Dallas, Hickory, Polk	47 min
Apr 20, 6:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Pulaski	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 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.