Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Memphis, TN

April 3, 1998Henry County, Tennessee

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 1998, 12:49 PM CST for Henry County, Tennessee. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report 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: Apr 3, 1998, 12:49 PM CST (18:49 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 1998, 1:20 PM CST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

County Henry County, TN

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 3, 1:10 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Oak Hill, TN	Dime size hail fell at Paris Landing State Park.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 3, 12:45 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 154 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: 888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 46 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.

205 
WFUS1 KMEM 031848 RRA
TORMEM
TNC079-031920-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1249 PM CST FRI APR 3 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS TN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 120 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN TENNESSEE

   ...HENRY COUNTY


AT 1247 PM CST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 9 MILES WEST OF
PARIS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. SPOTTERS INDICATED A FUNNEL CLOUD
5 MILES SOUTRH OF GLEASON AT 1235.

THIS TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR PARIS BY 1255 PM CST... NOBLES BY 105 PM
CST AND BUCHANAN BY 110 PM CST.

.IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO
BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SAFETY IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A
CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO
COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Memphis, TN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 12:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Gibson, Weakley	47 min
Apr 3, 12:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Carroll	51 min
Apr 3, 12:31 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MEG	Weakley	34 min
Apr 3, 2:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lauderdale	45 min
Apr 3, 2:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tipton	48 min
Apr 3, 2:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette, Haywood	33 min
Apr 3, 3:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Fayette, Hardeman, Haywood	30 min
Apr 3, 3:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Dyer, Gibson	34 min
Apr 3, 3:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Chester, Henderson	34 min
Apr 3, 4:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Hardin, McNairy	44 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Tennessee, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.