Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 801

December 9, 199717 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Florida

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 9, 1997, 10:30 PM CST for 17 counties in Alabama; 10 counties in Florida. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 9, 1997, 10:30 PM CST (04:30 UTC)
Expired: Dec 10, 1997, 4:00 AM CST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 27 counties

Baldwin County, AL, Butler County, AL, Choctaw County, AL, Clarke County, AL, Coffee County, AL, Conecuh County, AL, Covington County, AL, Crenshaw County, AL, Dale County, AL, Escambia County, AL, Geneva County, AL, Henry County, AL, Houston County, AL, Mobile County, AL, Monroe County, AL, Pike County, AL, Washington County, AL, Bay County, FL, Calhoun County, FL, Escambia County, FL, Gulf County, FL, Holmes County, FL, Jackson County, FL, Okaloosa County, FL, Santa Rosa County, FL, Walton County, FL, Washington County, FL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:32 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 9, 10:42 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TAE	Geneva, Houston	48 min

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 229 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 741 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 95 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 291 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 348 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS9 KMKC 100356
MKC WW 100356
ALZ000-FLZ000-101000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 801
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
956 PM CST TUE DEC 9 1997

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

   SOUTHERN ALABAMA                            
   NORTHWEST FLORIDA                            
   AND ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 1030 PM
UNTIL 400 AM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MOBILE ALABAMA TO
10 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF MARIANNA FLORIDA.

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.


DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP FROM EXTREME
SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI INTO NORTHWEST FLORIDA AND EXTREME SOUTHERN
MISSISSIPPI.  CONVECTION IS ASSOCIATED WITH NORTHWARD MOVING WARM
FRONT AHEAD OF COLD FRONT MOVING ACROSS THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY.  LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IS INCREASING OVER THE WATCH AREA WITH
SURFACE DEW POINTS NEAR 70F...CONTRIBUTING TO DESTABILIZATION OF
AIR MASS.  VAD WINDS FROM EGLIN AFB ARE BECOMING MORE FAVORABLE FOR
SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT AS LOW LEVEL JET STRENGTHENS TO NEAR 50 KT
AND WINDS EXHIBIT VEERING WITH HEIGHT.  00Z ETA MODEL CONTINUES
THIS STRENGTHENING TREND INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS SUGGESTING THREAT
FOR A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INCLUDING ISOLATED TORNADOES.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  dA FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24045.


...WEISS

;320,0882 314,0850 294,0850 300,0882;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 10, 2:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Baker, Columbia, Duval, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson and 6 more	5 hr
Dec 10, 7:00 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Dixie, Duval and 12 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Alabama, 1997 Tornado Watches in Florida, 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.