Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 209

April 27, 199724 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; George County, Jackson County, Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 27, 1997, 2:00 PM CDT for 24 counties in Alabama; 7 counties in Florida; George County, Jackson County, Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 27, 1997, 2:00 PM CDT (19:00 UTC)
Expired: Apr 27, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 33 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lowndes County, AL, Marengo County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Washington County, AL, Wilcox County, AL, Bay County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL, George County, MS, Jackson County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:01 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 27, 2:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	68 min
Apr 27, 5:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Lee, Russell	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 233 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: 172 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -153 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 462 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 568 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KNAW 271842
MKC WW 271815
MSZ000-ALZ000-FLZ000-280100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 209
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
115 PM CDT SUN APR 27 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   EXTREME SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI
   SOUTHERN ALABAMA
   NORTHWEST FLORIDA
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 200 PM UNTIL 800
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 75 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 100 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES SOUTH OF PENSACOLA FLORIDA TO 20 MILES WEST
OF MONTGOMERY ALABAMA.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 208...

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.

DISCUSSION...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING EASTWARD ACROSS
SOUTHEAST PARTS OF MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA IN ADVANCE OF UPPER
TROUGH MOVING TOWARD SOUTHERN TEXAS.  WARM FRONT HAS LIFTED
NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHERN ALABAMA WITH VERY MOIST AIR MASS NOW
INLAND.  VAD WINDS FROM AREA RADARS INDICATE 45-50 KT SOUTHERLY LOW
LEVEL JET PROVIDING STRONG WARM ADVECTION AND CONVERGENCE NEAR THE
FRONTAL BOUNDARY.  STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTHEASTWARD INTO
SOUTHERN ALABAMA AND NORTHWEST FLORIDA THIS AFTERNOON...WITH
GREATEST THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NEAR INTERSECTION OF SQUALL
LINE AND WARM FRONT.  VERTICAL SHEAR IS CONCENTRATED IN LOWEST 1
KM...WITH DIRECTIONAL SHEAR PRIMARILY ALONG AND NORTH OF WARM FRONT
WHERE RISK OF AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS MAXIMIZED.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 3/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21040.


...WEISS

;294,0885 321,0882 321,0850 294,0853;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 27, 6:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia and 15 more	6 hr
Apr 27, 12:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Hinds and 12 more	6 hr
Apr 27, 4:15 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington and 26 more	6 hr
Apr 27, 10:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Amite, Claiborne, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Forrest and 22 more	6 hr

Nearby

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