Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 4, 1986Perry County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 4, 1986, 6:05 PM CST for Perry County, Alabama. It was in force for 55 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Feb 4, 1986, 6:05 PM CST (00:05 UTC)
Expired
Feb 4, 1986, 7:00 PM CST
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Perry 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, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 30 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 1986-02-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 70 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 1986-02-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 166 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
70 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1219 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
225 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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

Special weather statement, Feb 4, 2:57 PM CST, 3 hours 8 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
 300 PM CST TUE FEB 4 1986

THUNDERSTORMS WERE APPROACHING ALABAMA/S WESTERN BORDER AT 3PM CST.
THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE JUST SOUTH OF COLUMBUS MS AND WERE MOVING
TOWARD LAMAR, PICKENS AND SUMTER COUNTIES. THESE THUNDERSTORMS
WERE ENBEDDED IN A WIDESPREAD RAIN AREA OVER EASTERN MISSISSIPPI.
SOME LIGHT RAIN HAD ALREADY ENTERED PARTS OF WESTERN ALABAMA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY BE ASSOCIATED WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN
AND GUSTY WINDS AS THEY MOVE EASTWARD.

OTHER LIGHT SHOWERS WERE OVER CENTRAL ALABAMA FROM AROUND BIRMINGHAM
SOUTH TO LINDEN AND DIXON MILLS IN MARENGO COUNTY.
Special weather statement, Feb 4, 3:35 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
335 PM CST TUE FEB 4 1986

A LINE OF HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ENTERED WESTERN ALABAMA SHORTLY
AFTER 3PM CST. AT 335PM CST...THIS LINE EXTENDED FROM JUST SOUTH OF
VERNON IN LAMAR COUNTY TO JUST WEST OF GORDO IN PICKENS COUNTY.
VERY HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS WERE REPORTED WITH THESE
THUNDERSTORMS AS THEY MOVED THROUGH REFORM A FEW MINUTES AGO.

OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED OVER MARION AND NORTHERN LAMAR
COUNTIES. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH A LARGE RAIN AREA
THAT WAS MOVING INTO WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST ALABAMA AT 330 PM CST.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 35 MPH.
Special weather statement, Feb 4, 4:47 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
445 PM CST TUE FEB 4 1986

VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS IN WEST ALABAMA WILL BRING HIGH WINDS...
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL TO WALKER
AND PICKENS COUNTY BETWEEN NOW AND ABOUT 6:00 OCLOCK THIS EVENING.

AT 4:45 PM...THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN WALKER COUNTY
FROM JUST WEST OF JASPER TO NEAR PARRISH AND OAKMAN. THEY WERE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35-40 MPH.

OTHER VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO PICKENS COUNTY
IN WEST-CENTRAL ALABAMA.

EVEN MORE INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS IN EAST MISSISSIPPI AROUND MERIDIAN
WILL BE MOVING RAPIDLY NORTHEAST INTO WEST ALABAMA. WIND GUSTS TO
55 MPH WERE REPORTED dAT THE MERIDIAN AIRPORT AND THERE WERE REPORTS
OF WIND DAMAGE IN JONES COUNTY OF SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.
Local storm report, Feb 4, 5:48 PM CST, 17 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
 544 PM CST TUE FEB 4 1986

AT 520 P.M. CST A TREE WAS REPORTED ACROSS HIGHWAY 17 I MILE NORTH
   OF TOXEY IN CHOCTAW COUNTY.

AT 523 P.M. CST A MOTOR HOME WAS OVERTURNED ON I59 NEAR MILE MARKER
   17 IN SUMTER COUNTY.

                                                                      ]

The office that day

Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 4, 6:22 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb, Jefferson68 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.