Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 17, 1986, 10:15 PM CST for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 17, 1986, 10:15 PM CST (04:15 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 17, 1986, 11:15 PM CST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Tuscaloosa County, AL
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
The nearest sounding before it
Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 00:00Z, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 53 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1299 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -20 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 583 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 248 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 242 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.0
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Feb 17, 5:51 PM CST, 4 hours 24 minutes before
STORM REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 550 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...AT 545 PM, CST, ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AT HAMILTON IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA REPORTED MARBLE SIZE HAIL 8 MILES EAST OF HAMILTON ON U. S. 278. THE HEAVY THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING THE HAIL WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
Special weather statement, Feb 17, 7:10 PM CST, 3 hours 5 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL 710 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA.. MONTGOMERY WEATHER RADAR AT 710 PM CST INDICATED A CLUSTER OF VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS OVER ELMORE AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES. OTHER VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN A CLUSTER OVER COVINGTON COUNTY IN SOUTH ALABAMA. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DECREASED IN INTENSITY DURING THE PAST HOUR AS THEY MOVE TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS..HEAVY RAINS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. RESIDENTS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE APPROACH OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS.
Local storm report, Feb 17, 7:28 PM CST, 2 hours 47 minutes before
STORM REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 725 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...AT 723 PM, CST, THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AT HALEYVILLE IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA'S WINSTON COUNTY REPORTED THAT MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS COVERING THE GROUND. THE THUNDERSTORM THAT WAS PRODUCING THE HAIL WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. HEAVY RAIN AND SHARP LIGHTNING WAS ALSO REPORTED BUT THERE WAS VERY LITTLE WIND.
Local storm report, Feb 17, 8:30 PM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes before
STORM REPORTS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 830 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...THE CULLMAN COUNTY EMA OFFICE REPORTS ONE MOBILE HOME BLOWN OFF ITS FOUNDATION AT JONES CHAPEL AROUND 8:05 PM CST. JONES CHAPEL IS IN NORTHWEST CULLMAN COUNTY ON U. S. 278 ABOUT 20 MILES WEST OF CULLMAN. THIS IS ABOUT 55 AIR MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST OF BIRMINGHAM. ...THE EMA ALSO HAS NUMEROUS REPORTS OF HAIL ALL OVER WESTERN CULLMAN COUNTY. MOST OF$ THE HAIL WAS MARBLE SIZE. ...WFMH RADIO/CULLMAN ALSO REPORTED VIVID LIGHTNING AND HAIL AT WEST POINT AND LOGAN IN WEST CULLMAN COUNTY AT 8:15 PM.
Local storm report, Feb 17, 9:17 PM CST, 58 minutes before
STORM REPORTS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 905 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...AT 905 PM CST THE ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AT HAMILTON REPORTED MARBLE SIZE HAIL AT GUIN IN MARION COUNTY ALABAMA.
Local storm report, Feb 17, 9:29 PM CST, 46 minutes before
STORM REPORTS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 928 PM CST MON FEB 17 1986 ...AT 923 PM CST THE ETOWAH COUNTY EMA OFFICE AT GADSDEN REPORTED WIND GUSTS TO 43 MPH IN DOWNTOWN GADSDEN. WIND DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED AT MOUNTAINBORO ON WEST ETOWAH COUNTY WITH POWER LINES DOWN. THIS IS ON U. S. 431 ABOUT 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF GADSDEN. ...THIS SAME STORM PARTIALLY UNROOFED A HOME AT ALTOONA ALONG THE ETOWAH/BLOUNT COUNTY LINE W+ITH A MOBILE HOME ALSO DAMAGED.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 8:00 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 40 min |
| Feb 17, 9:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 20 min |
| Feb 17, 9:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker, Winston | 60 min |
| Feb 17, 9:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 50 min |
| Feb 17, 9:55 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 40 min |
| Feb 17, 10:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 20 min |
| Feb 17, 11:54 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton, Shelby | 56 min |
| Feb 17, 11:54 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 56 min |
| Feb 18, 12:20 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 40 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1986Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986
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.