Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Springfield, MO

April 20, 1997Dallas County, Missouri

NWS Springfield, MO issued this tornado warning at Apr 20, 1997, 7:26 PM CDT for Dallas County, Missouri. It was in force for 49 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: Apr 20, 1997, 7:26 PM CDT (00:26 UTC)
Expired: Apr 20, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Springfield, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Dallas County, MO

The radar

The Springfield radar (KSGF), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:29 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, 7:45 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Long Lane, 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
Apr 20, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 320 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -76 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1699 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 224 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 390 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 4.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSGF 210026 RRA
TORSGF
MOC059-210115-

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  DALLAS COUNTY - SOUTHWEST MISSOURI

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
  PUMPKIN CENTER BY 730
  BUFFALO BY 740 PM
  CHARITY BY 745 PM

* AT 726 PM SPRINGFIELD DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO NEAR LEWISBURG...10 NORTHWEST OF BUFFALO.  THIS
  STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
MOVE INSIDE A STORM CELLAR... A BASEMENT...OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOUSE.

GORDON/RUNNELS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 20, 7:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Cedar	36 min
Apr 20, 7:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Greene, Lawrence	49 min
Apr 20, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Jasper	34 min
Apr 20, 7:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Polk	50 min
Apr 20, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	McDonald	63 min
Apr 20, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Phelps, Texas	50 min
Apr 20, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Laclede	65 min
Apr 20, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Barry, Lawrence	49 min
Apr 20, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Greene	49 min
Apr 20, 8:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dent	50 min
Apr 20, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian, Stone	50 min
Apr 20, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Webster	49 min
Apr 20, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Barry	34 min
Apr 20, 9:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Douglas, Taney	61 min
Apr 20, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian	65 min
Apr 20, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Wright	65 min
Apr 20, 9:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Howell, Texas	45 min
Apr 20, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Ozark	47 min
Apr 20, 10:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Howell	46 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.