Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Jackson, MS

October 3, 2002Smith County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at Oct 3, 2002, 3:37 PM CDT for Smith County, Mississippi. It was in force for 48 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, 3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)
Expired: Oct 3, 2002, 4:25 PM CDT
In force: 48 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, 3:59 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Raleigh, MS	A National Weather Service Survey discovered at least 20 trees down in northern Smith County about 3 miles northeast of Raleigh. Some of the trees destroyed were quite large, including two which were located on the edge of a cemetery near a small church. Oth

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, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 69 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.

599 
WFUS54 KJAN 032037
TORJAN
MSC129-032125-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 425 PM CDT

* AT 337 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 2 MILES NORTHEAST OF TAYLORSVILLE...MOVING NORTH AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO...
  BE NEAR SYLVARENA AT 350 PM CDT
  BE NEAR RALEIGH AT 355 PM CDT

THIS STORM SHOWS STRONG ROTATION AND MAY PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY
TIME. DO NOT WAIT...GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW PUT AS MANY WALLS BETWEEN
YOU AND THE OUTSIDE AS POSSIBLE.

LAT...LON 3177 8950 3182 8929 3224 8942 3223 8969

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, 3:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	JAN	Smith	31 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, 3:44 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.