Alert archive / Florida / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 10

January 8, 19975 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jan 8, 1997, 3:00 PM CST for 5 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jan 8, 1997, 3:00 PM CST (21:00 UTC)
Expired: Jan 8, 1997, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 33 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Gadsden County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Leon County, FL, Liberty County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, Decatur County, GA, Grady County, GA, Seminole County, GA, Thomas County, GA, Jefferson Parish, LA, Lafourche Parish, LA, Orleans Parish, LA, Plaquemines Parish, LA, Saint Bernard Parish, LA, Saint Charles Parish, LA, Saint Tammany Parish, LA, Terrebonne Parish, LA, George County, MS, Hancock County, MS, Harrison County, MS, Jackson County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Stone County, MS

Warnings issued inside it

7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 4:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Saint Tammany	45 min
Jan 8, 5:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Pearl River	34 min
Jan 8, 5:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Perry, Stone	62 min
Jan 8, 6:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Orleans	38 min
Jan 8, 7:53 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Jefferson	37 min
Jan 8, 7:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Greene, Perry, Stone	62 min
Jan 8, 8:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LIX	Plaquemines	59 min

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 434 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 430 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 481 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

929 
WWUS9 KMKC 082037
SEL0  
MKC WW 082037
LAZ000-MSZ000-ALZ000-FLZ000-090300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 10
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO
237 PM CST WED JAN 8 1997

A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR

   PARTS OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA                          
   A SMALL PART OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI                        
   A SMALL PART OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA                            
   THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE                            
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 900 PM CST.

TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 170 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF BOOTHVILLE LOUISIANA TO
15 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF CRESTVIEW FLORIDA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
$$

C...TORNADOES AND A FEW SVR TSTMS WITH HAIL SFC AND ALF TO 2
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 480.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 24035.

D...POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES LKLY TO INCR THIS EVENING OVR CNTRL
GULF CST RGN...WHERE SFC-BASED GULF AMS IS RETURNING RAPIDLY BNTH
MDT TO STG SW FLOW ALF.  PRES CHG AND VIS STLT DATA SUG INITIAL
THREAT MAY DVLP BOTH ALG ERN-MOST CNVGNC LN FM NR PNS SSW INTO THE
GULF...AND FM LFT/NEW AREA SSWD INTO THE GULF.  

E...OTR TSTMS...  CONT..WW 9..

...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 8, 10:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Chilton and 25 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Florida, 1997 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 1997 Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 1997 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.