Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 769

October 25, 19978 counties in Alabama; 29 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 25, 1997, 3:00 PM CDT for 8 counties in Alabama; 29 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 25, 1997, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 37 counties

Colbert County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lauderdale County, AL, Marion County, AL, Pickens County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL, Alcorn County, MS, Benton County, MS, Calhoun County, MS, Carroll County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Choctaw 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, Union County, MS, Webster County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lee	33 min
Oct 25, 4:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Lee, Prentiss	35 min
Oct 25, 4:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin	69 min
Oct 25, 4:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Itawamba, Tishomingo	33 min
Oct 25, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lee	35 min
Oct 25, 5:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Itawamba	35 min
Oct 25, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tishomingo	32 min
Oct 25, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Webster	30 min
Oct 25, 5:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Webster	32 min
Oct 25, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence	60 min
Oct 25, 5:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Chickasaw	48 min
Oct 25, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Leflore, Sunflower	30 min
Oct 25, 6:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Chickasaw	33 min
Oct 25, 7:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Monroe	46 min

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 124 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.

883 
WWUS9 KMKC 251938
SEL9  
MKC WW 251938
MSZ000-ALZ000-260200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 769
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
238 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

   NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI                        
   NORTHWEST ALABAMA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 300 PM UNTIL 900
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 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTHWEST OF COLUMBUS AFB MISSISSIPPI TO 50
MILES NORTH OF TUPELO MISSISSIPPI.

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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 763.  WATCH NUMBER 763 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 300 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 764...WW 765...WW 766...WW 767...WW 768...

DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES POSSIBLE THIS
EVENING AS VERTICAL SHEAR SLOWLY INCREASES IN VICINITY OF WNW/ESE
ORIENTED OUTFLOW BOUNDARY IN WATCH AREA.  CAPE NOT EXCESSIVE...BUT
SUFFICIENT FOR SUPERCELLS GIVEN AVAILABILITY OF LOW 70 DEWPOINTS
AND CONSIDERABLE LOW LEVEL SHEAR.  

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

331,0902 345,0901 345,0871 331,0873

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, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington and 13 more	7 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 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.