Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 17, 1986Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1986-02-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1299 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1986-02-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 248 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 17, 8:00 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCullman40 min
Feb 17, 9:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarion20 min
Feb 17, 9:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXWalker, Winston60 min
Feb 17, 9:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPickens50 min
Feb 17, 9:55 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXFayette40 min
Feb 17, 10:15 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXGreene20 min
Feb 17, 11:54 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXChilton, Shelby56 min
Feb 17, 11:54 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega56 min
Feb 18, 12:20 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay40 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.