Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Jackson, MS

January 21, 1999Bolivar County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at Jan 21, 1999, 4:17 PM CST for Bolivar County, Mississippi. It was in force for 48 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 21, 1999, 4:17 PM CST (22:17 UTC)
Expired: Jan 21, 1999, 5:05 PM CST
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Whole counties

County Bolivar County, MS

The radar

The Little Rock radar (KLZK), 172 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:19 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 143 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: 701 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -198 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 594 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 258 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KJAN 212218 RRA
TORJAN
MSC011-212305-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
417 PM CST THU JAN 21 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BOLIVAR COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI

* UNTIL 505 PM CST

* AT 414 PM CST... RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
  PRODUCING A TORNADO 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BENOIT... MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS IS IN THE PATH OF THIS DANGEROUS STORM...
  BEULAH AT 440 PM CST
  ROSEDALE AT 450 PM CST
  GUNNISON AT 455 PM

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

67

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 21, 10:30 AM CST, 5 hours 47 minutes before

ARZ074-075-LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026-MSZ018-019-025>066-072>074-
230400-

AREA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
1030 AM CST THU JAN 21 1999

...SIGNIFICANT OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT...

A PASSING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL COMBINE WITH ABUNDANT
JET STREAM ENERGY AND ABUNDANT MOISTURE ALREADY IN PLACE TO TRIGGER
AN OUTBREAK OF SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER TODAY INTO TONIGHT.

A LINE OF STRONG STORMS WILL BE PASSING THROUGH THE STATE TODAY INTO
TONIGHT. THE LINE OF STORMS WILL BE MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH WITH INDIVIDUAL
STORMS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THESE STORMS CAN RAPIDLY REACH SEVERE
LIMITS AS THEY RACE NORTHEASTWARD.  THE RAPID MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS WILL
MEAN EXTREMELY HIGH WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG WITH VERY LARGE HAIL.

WITH STRONG...LOW LEVEL WINDS...CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADO FORMATION...INCLUDING ISOLATED VERY DAMAGING TORNADOES. WHEN
WARNINGS ARE ISSUED...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STRONGLY RECOMMENDS
THAT IMMEDIATE SAFETY ACTIONS BE TAKEN...YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT.

AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES THROUGH THE STATE TONIGHT INTO EARLY
SATURDAY...COOLER MORE STABLE AIR WILL PREVENT THE FORMATION OF
THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS AND EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT/CIVIL DEFENSE PERSONNEL WILL BE REQUIRED THROUGH TONIGHT.

FOR MORE INFORMATION...PLEASE VISIT OUR INTERNET WEB SITE AT:
HTTP://WWW.JANNWS.STATE.MS.US     /IN LOWER CASE LETTERS/

The office that day

Everything else NWS Jackson, MS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 21, 2:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Bolivar	46 min
Jan 21, 3:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Bolivar	33 min
Jan 21, 5:04 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Bolivar	31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.