Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 78

March 1, 19974 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 1, 1997, 5:00 PM CST for 4 states. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 1, 1997, 5:00 PM CST (23:00 UTC)
Expired: Mar 1, 1997, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 37 counties

Arkansas County, AR, Ashley County, AR, Bradley County, AR, Calhoun County, AR, Chicot County, AR, Cleveland County, AR, Columbia County, AR, Dallas County, AR, Desha County, AR, Drew County, AR, Jefferson County, AR, Lafayette County, AR, Lincoln County, AR, Ouachita County, AR, Union County, AR, Bossier Parish, LA, Caddo Parish, LA, Claiborne Parish, LA, East Carroll Parish, LA, Lincoln Parish, LA, Morehouse Parish, LA, Ouachita Parish, LA, Union Parish, LA, Webster Parish, LA, West Carroll Parish, LA, Bolivar County, MS, Coahoma County, MS, Grenada County, MS, Lafayette County, MS, Leflore County, MS, Panola County, MS, Quitman County, MS, Sunflower County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS, Washington County, MS, Yalobusha County, MS, Harrison County, TX

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 160 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:03 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 1, 5:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Ouachita	47 min
Mar 1, 5:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Calhoun	50 min
Mar 1, 5:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Dallas	50 min
Mar 1, 6:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleveland	32 min
Mar 1, 6:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Jefferson	33 min
Mar 1, 7:40 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	LZK	Arkansas, Jefferson, Lonoke	3 hr
Mar 1, 8:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LZK	Cleveland	35 min

The nearest sounding before it

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 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: 1665 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 510 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 322 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 390 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.9
Supercell composite: 12.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

362 
WWUS9 KMKC 012226
SEL8  
MKC WW 012226
ARZ000-LAZ000-MSZ000-020300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 78
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
426 PM CST SAT MAR 1 1997

A...THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR

   PARTS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ARKANSAS                         
   PARTS OF NORTHERN LOUISIANA                          
   PARTS OF WESTERN MISSISSIPPI                        

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING UNTIL 900 PM CST.

TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND DAMAGING
THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.


THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 95 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES EAST OF SHREVEPORT LOUISIANA TO 60 MILES
WEST OF OXFORD 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.
$$

C...TORNADOES AND A FEW SVR TSTMS WITH HAIL SFC AND ALF TO 1 3/4
INCHES.  EXTRM TURBC AND SFC WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CBS
WITH MAX TOPS TO 500.  MEAN WIND VECTOR 23045.

D...COMBINATION OF STG VERT SHEAR /45 KT LOLVL SSW FLOW VEERING TO
70 KT SW FLOW AT 500 MB/...SFC DWPTS AOA 70F AND LOLVL CONFLUENCE
AHD OF APCHG UPR SPD MAX CONTRIBUTING TO FVRBL SETUP FOR SUPERCELLS
IN WW AREA.    

E...OTR TSTMS...  CONT..WW 75..WW 76..WW 77..

...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 1, 12:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baxter, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead and 36 more	6 hr
Mar 1, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Craighead, Crittenden, Cross, Lee, Lonoke, Mississippi and 6 more	7 hr
Mar 1, 1:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alcorn, Benton, Coahoma, DeSoto, Itawamba, Lafayette and 11 more	5 hr

Nearby

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