Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 326

May 26, 19974 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 26, 1997, 4:00 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 26, 1997, 4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
Expired
May 26, 1997, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 40 counties

Alexander County, IL, Franklin County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Jackson County, IL, Johnson County, IL, Massac County, IL, Perry County, IL, Pope County, IL, Pulaski County, IL, Saline County, IL, Union County, IL, Williamson County, IL, Ballard County, KY, Calloway County, KY, Carlisle County, KY, Crittenden County, KY, Fulton County, KY, Graves County, KY, Hickman County, KY, Livingston County, KY, Lyon County, KY, Marshall County, KY, McCracken County, KY, Mississippi County, MO, Scott County, MO, Benton County, TN, Carroll County, TN, Chester County, TN, Crockett County, TN, Decatur County, TN, Dyer County, TN, Gibson County, TN, Haywood County, TN, Henderson County, TN, Henry County, TN, Lake County, TN, Madison County, TN, Obion County, TN, Weakley County, TN

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:02 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 26, 4:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGLake32 min
May 26, 4:52 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningPAHFulton2 hr
May 26, 4:58 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGLake32 min
May 26, 4:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAHFulton31 min
May 26, 5:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGObion48 min
May 26, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGDyer, Gibson48 min
May 26, 7:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHXDecatur46 min
May 26, 7:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGHaywood48 min
May 26, 7:38 PM CDTTornado WarningOHXDecatur37 min
May 26, 7:58 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGHaywood32 min
May 26, 8:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGMadison46 min
May 26, 8:30 PM CDTTornado WarningMEGMadison35 min
May 26, 9:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMEGChester33 min

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 231 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1997-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1016 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1997-05-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 66 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
1016 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
693 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.8

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
May 25, 10:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBates, Benton, Buchanan, Carroll, Cass, Cedar and 16 more4 hr
May 26, 12:30 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Camden, Cass and 33 more5 hr
May 26, 3:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarry, Barton, Bates, Bollinger, Butler, Camden and 42 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 1997Tornado Watches in Illinois, 1997Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 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.