Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 773

October 25, 1997Ashley County, Chicot County, Arkansas; 21 parishes in Louisiana; 24 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 25, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT for Ashley County, Chicot County, Arkansas; 21 parishes in Louisiana; 24 counties in Mississippi. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 25, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: Oct 26, 1997, 2:00 AM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 47 counties

Ashley County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Bienville Parish, LA, Caldwell Parish, LA, Catahoula Parish, LA, Concordia Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Franklin Parish, LA, Grant Parish, LA, Jackson Parish, LA, LaSalle Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Madison Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Natchitoches Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Red River Parish, LA, Richland Parish, LA, Sabine Parish, LA, Tensas Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Winn Parish, LA, Adams County, MS, Attala County, MS, Choctaw County, MS, Claiborne County, MS, Copiah County, MS, Franklin County, MS, Hinds County, MS, Holmes County, MS, Humphreys County, MS, Issaquena County, MS, Jefferson County, MS, Leake County, MS, Lincoln County, MS, Madison County, MS, Neshoba County, MS, Noxubee County, MS, Rankin County, MS, Scott County, MS, Sharkey County, MS, Simpson County, MS, Warren County, MS, Washington County, MS, Winston County, MS, Yazoo County, MS

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 162 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:00 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Chicot	59 min
Oct 25, 9:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Morehouse	50 min
Oct 25, 10:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Washington	58 min
Oct 25, 11:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Adams	52 min
Oct 25, 11:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Copiah	47 min
Oct 26, 12:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Hinds	43 min
Oct 26, 12:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Leake	54 min
Oct 26, 12:39 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Rankin	66 min
Oct 26, 1:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Scott, Smith	68 min

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 3555 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 255 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 300 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 5.1
Supercell composite: 24.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

908 
WWUS9 KMKC 260119
SEL3  
MKC WW 260119
LAZ000-ARZ000-MSZ000-260800-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 773
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
819 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

   NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA                          
   SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS                           
   WEST CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI                        

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 900 PM UNTIL
300 AM 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 110 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM ALEXANDRIA LOUISIANA TO 75 MILES NORTH OF JACKSON
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 768.  WATCH NUMBER 768 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 900 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 769...WW 770...WW 771...WW 772...

DISCUSSION...LINE OF SEVERE STORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS
SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS AND CENTRAL AND WEST CENTRAL LOUISIANA.  AIRMASS
REMAINS VERY UNSTABLE WITH CAPES AROUND 4000 J/KG AND THE PRESENCE
OF FAVORABLE SPEED 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 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25040.


...MCCARTHY

312,0941 332,0915 332,0881 312,0902

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron and 8 more	6 hr
Oct 26, 12:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Avoyelles, Calcasieu, Catahoula and 21 more	6 hr
Oct 25, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Calhoun, Chickasaw, Clay, Grenada, Itawamba, Lafayette and 10 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Mississippi, 1997 Tornado Watches in Louisiana, 1997 Tornado Watches in Arkansas, 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.