Alert archive / Georgia / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 767

October 25, 199719 counties in Alabama; 22 counties in Georgia

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 25, 1997, 1:30 PM CDT for 19 counties in Alabama; 22 counties in Georgia. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 25, 1997, 1:30 PM CDT (18:30 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 41 counties

Barbour County, AL, Bullock County, AL, Butler County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Elmore County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Lee County, AL, Macon County, AL, Montgomery County, AL, Pike County, AL, Russell County, AL, Tallapoosa County, AL, Bibb County, GA, Calhoun County, GA, Chattahoochee County, GA, Clay County, GA, Crawford County, GA, Early County, GA, Harris County, GA, Houston County, GA, Macon County, GA, Marion County, GA, Muscogee County, GA, Peach County, GA, Quitman County, GA, Randolph County, GA, Schley County, GA, Stewart County, GA, Sumter County, GA, Talbot County, GA, Taylor County, GA, Terrell County, GA, Twiggs County, GA, Webster County, GA

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 2:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Bullock, Macon	52 min
Oct 25, 2:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pike	48 min
Oct 25, 2:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	46 min
Oct 25, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	50 min
Oct 25, 2:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Randolph	31 min
Oct 25, 3:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Terrell	33 min
Oct 25, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler, Crenshaw	63 min
Oct 25, 3:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Quitman	32 min
Oct 25, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Coffee, Dale	45 min
Oct 25, 6:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Houston	46 min
Oct 25, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	40 min
Oct 25, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Dale	30 min
Oct 25, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	40 min
Oct 25, 7:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TAE	Henry, Houston	48 min
Oct 25, 7:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	62 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 1546 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 507 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 119 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 191 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 4.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

367 
WWUS9 KMKC 251809
SEL7  
MKC WW 251809
ALZ000-GAZ000-260100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 767
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
109 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

   SOUTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA                            
   WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST GEORGIA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 130 PM UNTIL 800
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF DOTHAN ALABAMA TO 35
MILES NORTHEAST OF COLUMBUS GEORGIA.

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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 763...WW 764...WW
765...WW 766...

DISCUSSION...THREAT FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES THIS AFTERNOON AS
SURFACE HEATING BOOSTS CAPE AND INTENSIFIES DIFFUSE BOUNDARY
ORIENTED WSW/ENE ACROSS REGION.  VERTICAL SHEAR LIKELY TO SLOWLY
INCREASE WITH TIME AS LOW LEVEL JET DEVELOPS ACROSS REGION...
ENHANCING RISK FOR SUPERCELLS. 

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 520. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...CORFIDI

310,0874 325,0855 325,0830 310,0845

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 8:30 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Colbert, Cullman and 18 more	7 hr
Oct 25, 9:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cleburne	6 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

Nearby

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