Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 110, NWS Memphis, TN

May 5, 1999Panola County, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi

NWS Memphis, TN issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1999, 5:53 PM CDT for Panola County, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. It was in force for 32 min. 2 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 5, 1999, 5:53 PM CDT (22:53 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 1999, 6:25 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Memphis, TN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Panola County, MS, Tallahatchie County, MS

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:54 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
May 5, 6:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Sardis, MS	Several trees were blown down.
May 5, 6:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Countywide, MS	Numerous trees were knocked down across the county. Some of the trees fell on cars.

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
May 5, 2:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr
May 5, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 75 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: 72 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -256 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 244 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WFUS1 KMEM 052252 RRA
TORMEM
MSC107-135-052325-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
553 PM CDT WED MAY 5 1999


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEMPHIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  PANOLA COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI
  TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI

* UNTIL 625 PM CDT

* AT 551 PM CDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 10 MILES SOUTH
  OF BATESVILLE OR 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF ENID... MOVING NORTHEAST AT
  45 MPH.

* TOWNS NEAR THE PATH INCLUDE...
  CHARLESTON
  COURTLAND
  BATESVILLE  .

.A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY
CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 10:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Calhoun, Yalobusha	50 min
May 5, 5:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	DeSoto, Tunica	45 min
May 5, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Tallahatchie	47 min
May 5, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	DeSoto	33 min
May 5, 6:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Yalobusha	35 min
May 5, 6:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Lafayette	32 min
May 5, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MEG	Marshall	36 min
May 5, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Lafayette	46 min
May 5, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MEG	Benton	50 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.