Alert archive / Arkansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Tulsa, OK

May 2, 1997Sebastian County, Arkansas

NWS Tulsa, OK issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1997, 4:55 PM CDT for Sebastian County, Arkansas. It was in force for 50 min. 4 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 1997, 4:55 PM CDT (21:55 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Tulsa, OK
Area: Whole counties

County Sebastian County, AR

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 2, 5:05 PM CDT	Hail 1	Jenny Lind, AR
May 2, 5:08 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Ft Smith, AR
May 2, 5:08 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Ft Smith, AR
May 2, 5:15 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Greenwood, AR	Severe thunderstorms developed in northwest Arkansas during the afternoon of May 2nd. Strong thunderstorm winds downed trees 5 miles south of Eureka Springs and 5 miles south of Fort Smith, and golfball size hail also fell 5 miles south of Fort Smith. Half dol

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 194 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: 915 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 283 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 413 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 
TTAA00 KTUL 022154 RRA
TORTUL
ARC131-022245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
455 PM CDT FRI MAY 2 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS
 
   ...NORTHERN SEBASTIAN COUNTY
 
AT 4 55 PM A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FT.
SMITH...OR NEAR POCOLA. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST-NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES
AN HOUR. FT. SMITH IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
IF YOU LIVE IN FT. SMITH...TAKE COVER NOW!!!
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
STAY AWAY FROM OUTSIDE WALLS AND AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND
MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET IN A GROUND DEPRESSION.
 
KEEP TUNED TO THIS STATION& FOR THE LATEST WEATHER BULLETINS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Tulsa, OK issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 3:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Benton	47 min
May 2, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TSA	Carroll	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arkansas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.