Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Springfield, MO

May 25, 1997Benton County, Missouri

NWS Springfield, MO issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 10:44 PM CDT for Benton County, Missouri. It was in force for 36 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: May 25, 1997, 10:44 PM CDT (03:44 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 11:20 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Springfield, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Benton County, MO

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:46 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
May 25, 11:23 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Fristoe, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 25, 10:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 418 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

984 
WFUS1 KSGF 260345
TORSGF
MOC015-260420-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
1044 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  BENTON COUNTY - CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 1120 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
  FRISTOE THROUGH 11 PM
  EDWARDS BY 1105 PM

* AT 1042 PM SPRINGFIELD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO
  3 MILES OF FAIRFIELD OR 3 MILES SOUTH OF FRISTOE.  THIS
  STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Hickory, St. Clair	50 min
May 25, 11:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Miller, Pulaski	51 min
May 25, 11:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Vernon	32 min
May 26, 12:08 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	St. Clair	52 min
May 26, 12:58 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	St. Clair	47 min
May 26, 1:14 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Hickory	51 min
May 26, 1:39 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	SGF	Benton, St. Clair	3 hr
May 26, 2:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Laclede	33 min
May 26, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Shannon	50 min
May 26, 6:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian, Stone	66 min
May 26, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Jasper, Newton	65 min
May 26, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Ozark, Taney	70 min
May 26, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Lawrence	78 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.