Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 763

October 25, 199724 counties in Alabama; Dade County, Georgia; 29 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 25, 1997, 8:30 AM CDT for 24 counties in Alabama; Dade County, Georgia; 29 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 25, 1997, 8:30 AM CDT (13:30 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 3:00 PM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 54 counties

Blount County, AL, Calhoun County, AL, Cherokee County, AL, Cleburne County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, DeKalb County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Jefferson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Talladega County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Dade County, GA, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Carroll County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Clay County, MS, DeSoto County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Lowndes County, MS, Marshall County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Oktibbeha County, MS, Panola County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Tate County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Tunica County, MS, Union County, MS, Webster County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 8:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun	33 min
Oct 25, 9:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lee	45 min
Oct 25, 9:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chickasaw	17 min
Oct 25, 9:51 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lee	34 min
Oct 25, 10:08 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba	47 min
Oct 25, 10:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	42 min
Oct 25, 10:18 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	47 min
Oct 25, 10:59 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	61 min
Oct 25, 11:00 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	45 min
Oct 25, 11:10 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Winston	45 min
Oct 25, 11:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence	60 min
Oct 25, 11:48 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Winston	47 min
Oct 25, 12:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	65 min
Oct 25, 12:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	68 min
Oct 25, 1:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount	51 min
Oct 25, 1:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison, Marshall	67 min
Oct 25, 1:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tunica	40 min
Oct 25, 1:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Panola, Quitman	48 min

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 151 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: 452 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 524 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 177 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

840 
WWUS9 KMKC 251313
SEL3  
MKC WW 251313
MSZ000-ALZ000-252000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 763
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
813 AM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

   NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI                        
   NORTHERN ALABAMA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 830 AM UNTIL 300
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 55 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF GREENWOOD
MISSISSIPPI TO 35 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF GADSDEN ALABAMA.

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...POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELLS AND TORNADOES WILL INCREASE
THIS MORNING AS WARM ADVECTION PATTERN IS ENHANCED IN EXIT REGION
OF UPPER LEVEL SPEED MAX NOW OVER E TEXAS.  STRONG /40 KT/ SSW LOW
LEVEL INFLOW OF VERY MOIST AIR /DEWPOINTS IN THE LOW 70S/ WILL
PREVAIL BENEATH MID LEVEL WSW FLOW OF 50-60 KTS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 520. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...CORFIDI

345,0902 345,0852 331,0852 332,0902

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 9:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cleburne	6 hr
Oct 25, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 13 more	7 hr
Oct 25, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Colbert, Fayette, Franklin, Lamar, Lauderdale, Marion and 2 more	6 hr
Oct 25, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Baldwin, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee and 15 more	5 hr
Oct 25, 4:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Dale, Henry, Houston and 3 more	5 hr
Oct 25, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bolivar, Claiborne, Coahoma, Copiah, Hinds, Humphreys and 7 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 1997 Tornado Watches in Alabama, 1997 Tornado Watches in Georgia, 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.