Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 181

April 22, 199740 counties in Alabama; 17 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 22, 1997, 1:30 PM CDT for 40 counties in Alabama; 17 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 22, 1997, 1:30 PM CDT (18:30 UTC)
Expired
Apr 22, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 57 counties

Autauga County, AL, Baldwin County, AL, Bibb County, AL, Blount County, AL, Chilton County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Dallas County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Morgan County, AL, Perry County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Shelby County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Sumter County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Walker County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Winston County, AL, Clarke County, MS, Forrest County, MS, George County, MS, Greene County, MS, Hancock County, MS, Harrison County, MS, Jackson County, MS, Jasper County, MS, Jones County, MS, Kemper County, MS, Lauderdale County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Pearl River County, MS, Perry County, MS, Stone County, MS, Wayne County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 162 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:34 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.

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 22, 1:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXFranklin66 min
Apr 22, 2:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXGreene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter48 min
Apr 22, 2:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw68 min
Apr 22, 2:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWayne63 min
Apr 22, 2:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXColbert62 min
Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBlount, Jefferson, Walker50 min
Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke, Wilcox60 min
Apr 22, 2:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa50 min
Apr 22, 2:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby48 min
Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXBibb35 min
Apr 22, 2:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Dallas, Lowndes49 min
Apr 22, 2:55 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXShelby35 min
Apr 22, 3:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton47 min
Apr 22, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWashington65 min
Apr 22, 3:14 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXDallas46 min
Apr 22, 3:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Lowndes50 min
Apr 22, 3:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWilcox63 min
Apr 22, 3:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANClarke48 min
Apr 22, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXDeKalb30 min
Apr 22, 4:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANJasper, Smith49 min
Apr 22, 4:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWayne62 min
Apr 22, 4:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw56 min
Apr 22, 4:26 PM CDTTornado WarningJANClarke34 min
Apr 22, 4:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANLauderdale42 min
Apr 22, 4:33 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBWayne42 min
Apr 22, 4:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarengo49 min
Apr 22, 4:54 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBChoctaw36 min
Apr 22, 4:57 PM CDTTornado WarningJANJones48 min
Apr 22, 5:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXSumter48 min
Apr 22, 5:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke56 min
Apr 22, 5:19 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBClarke41 min
Apr 22, 5:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWayne65 min
Apr 22, 5:31 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBWilcox59 min
Apr 22, 5:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChoctaw63 min
Apr 22, 5:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningJANForrest36 min
Apr 22, 6:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDallas49 min
Apr 22, 6:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBPerry64 min
Apr 22, 6:17 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXDallas43 min
Apr 22, 6:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWashington67 min
Apr 22, 6:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIXPearl River57 min
Apr 22, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke66 min
Apr 22, 6:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMonroe57 min
Apr 22, 6:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXAutauga, Elmore, Montgomery52 min
Apr 22, 7:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile68 min
Apr 22, 7:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIXJackson39 min
Apr 22, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIXPearl River31 min
Apr 22, 7:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBPerry, Stone68 min
Apr 22, 8:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBGreene62 min
Apr 22, 8:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile57 min
Apr 22, 8:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWashington57 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 174 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-04-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1576 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-04-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 117 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1576 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
6.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 22, 8:45 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCSumter6 hr
Apr 22, 11:15 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCLamar, Pickens6 hr
Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarbour, Bullock, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee and 22 more6 hr
Apr 21, 10:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams6 hr
Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams, Amite, Covington, Franklin, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis and 8 more7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 1997Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 1997Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.