Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 774

October 25, 199717 counties in Alabama; 16 counties in Mississippi

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 25, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT for 17 counties in Alabama; 16 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 33 counties

Blount County, AL, Colbert County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Etowah County, AL, Fayette County, AL, Franklin County, AL, Jackson County, AL, Lamar County, AL, Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Madison County, AL, Marion County, AL, Marshall County, AL, Morgan County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Walker County, AL, Winston County, AL, Calhoun County, MS, Chickasaw County, MS, Clay County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Itawamba County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Lee County, MS, Monroe County, MS, Montgomery County, MS, Pontotoc County, MS, Prentiss County, MS, Tippah County, MS, Tishomingo County, MS, Union County, MS, Webster County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 25, 11:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	47 min
Oct 26, 12:38 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson	32 min
Oct 26, 1:49 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	St. Clair	66 min
Oct 26, 1:08 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Etowah	47 min

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -261 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 296 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

955 
WWUS9 KMKC 260135
SEL4  
MKC WW 260135
MSZ000-ALZ000-260800-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 774
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
835 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

   NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI                        
   NORTHERN ALABAMA                            

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 45 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF OXFORD MISSISSIPPI TO 30
MILES NORTH 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 769.  WATCH NUMBER 769 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 900 PM
CDT.  CONTINUE...WW 768...WW 770...WW 771...WW 772...

DISCUSSION...SEVERAL SEVERE STORMS CONTINUE ACROSS AREA ALONG
QUASI-STATIONARY BOUNDARY.  AIR MASS REMAINS MODERATELY UNSTABLE
WITH FAVORABLE VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILES.


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

344,0895 350,0855 334,0855 332,0895

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 26, 12:00 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Greene, Jefferson, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa	6 hr
Oct 26, 6:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clay and 19 more	5 hr
Oct 26, 12:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Clay and 20 more	6 hr
Oct 25, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Wilkinson	6 hr
Oct 25, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Attala, Choctaw, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin and 18 more	6 hr

Nearby

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