Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 35, NWS Jackson, MS

October 3, 2002Smith County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at Oct 3, 2002, 3:04 PM CDT for Smith County, Mississippi. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Oct 3, 2002, 3:04 PM CDT (20:04 UTC)
Expired: Oct 3, 2002, 3:35 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Smith County, MS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 3, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Polkville, MS	A National Weather Service survey team found trees down in Northwest Smith County, about 6 miles south of Polkville. The tops of several trees were also snapped off. No other property damage was noted.

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
Oct 3, 9:55 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	12 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 47 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: 60 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 989 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 82 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.

422 
WFUS54 KJAN 032004
TORJAN
MSC129-032035-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
304 PM CDT THU OCT 3 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SMITH COUNTY IN CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI

* UNTIL 335 PM CDT

* AT 304 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 10 MILES SOUTH OF POLKVILLE...OR ABOUT 13 MILES NORTH OF
  MAGEE...MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO...
  BE NEAR POLKVILLE AT 320 PM CDT

A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME - TAKE COVER NOW ABANDON MOBILE HOMES
AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 3206 8973 3206 8962 3198 8958 3222 8950
          3223 8973

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 3, 12:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jones	30 min
Oct 3, 12:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Jasper	47 min
Oct 3, 12:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Smith	26 min
Oct 3, 1:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Scott	30 min
Oct 3, 1:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington, Jefferson Davis, Simpson	44 min
Oct 3, 1:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Scott	19 min
Oct 3, 2:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Smith	38 min
Oct 3, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	45 min
Oct 3, 3:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Scott	28 min
Oct 3, 3:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Rankin	32 min
Oct 3, 3:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Smith	48 min
Oct 3, 3:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Scott	61 min
Oct 3, 4:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper	44 min
Oct 3, 6:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Leake	26 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Mississippi, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.