Alert archive / Mississippi / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 90, NWS Jackson, MS

December 24, 2002Forrest County, Mississippi

NWS Jackson, MS issued this tornado warning at Dec 24, 2002, 3:59 AM CST for Forrest County, Mississippi. It was in force for 21 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: Dec 24, 2002, 3:59 AM CST (09:59 UTC)
Expired: Dec 24, 2002, 4:20 AM CST
In force: 21 min
Issued by: NWS Jackson, MS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Forrest County, MS

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:58 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
Dec 24, 4:00 AM CST	Hail 0.75	Hattiesburg, MS

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
Dec 24, 2:30 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 125 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: 18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -144 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 658 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 957 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS54 KJAN 241002
TORJAN
MSC035-241020-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
359 AM CST TUE DEC 24 2002
CORRECTED FOR REPORT OF FUNNEL CLOUD

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  FORREST COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI

* UNTIL 420 AM CST

* AT 357 AM CST...LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR  
HATTIESBURG...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO...
  BE NEAR PETAL AT 405 AM CST

TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU
SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO - IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW

LAT...LON 3133 8936 3118 8928 3132 8914 3143 8924

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 23, 8:07 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Lamar	28 min
Dec 23, 8:20 PM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Forrest	30 min
Dec 23, 9:05 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Bolivar, Carroll, Grenada, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena and 7 more	6 hr
Dec 23, 9:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Yazoo	43 min
Dec 23, 10:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Hinds, Rankin	29 min
Dec 23, 11:22 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Hinds, Rankin	113 min
Dec 23, 11:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Neshoba, Newton	30 min
Dec 24, 12:31 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Adams, Claiborne, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson	3 hr
Dec 24, 12:41 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lamar, Marion	29 min
Dec 24, 12:56 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest	39 min
Dec 24, 1:17 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Adams	38 min
Dec 24, 1:20 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Hinds, Rankin	3 hr
Dec 24, 1:22 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Copiah, Lincoln	28 min
Dec 24, 1:24 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jones	31 min
Dec 24, 1:42 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	JAN	Forrest, Jones, Lamar, Marion	4 hr
Dec 24, 1:42 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Claiborne, Jefferson	28 min
Dec 24, 1:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Simpson	30 min
Dec 24, 1:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Franklin	35 min
Dec 24, 2:02 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Copiah	33 min
Dec 24, 2:06 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	39 min
Dec 24, 2:10 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest	40 min
Dec 24, 2:12 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lincoln	38 min
Dec 24, 2:26 AM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Clarke	29 min
Dec 24, 2:32 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Hinds	33 min
Dec 24, 2:43 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Rankin, Simpson	32 min
Dec 24, 2:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jones	30 min
Dec 24, 2:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Lawrence	30 min
Dec 24, 2:54 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jefferson Davis	31 min
Dec 24, 2:58 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	17 min
Dec 24, 3:11 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Covington, Smith	29 min
Dec 24, 3:18 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Marion	32 min
Dec 24, 3:25 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Jasper, Jones	30 min
Dec 24, 3:36 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Forrest, Lamar	39 min
Dec 24, 3:43 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	JAN	Clarke	42 min
Dec 24, 4:02 AM CST	Tornado Warning	JAN	Forrest	18 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.