Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 24, 1986Lawrence County, Limestone County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1986, 5:57 PM CDT for Lawrence County, Limestone County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 1986, 5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1986, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Lawrence County, AL, Limestone 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 170 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1986-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1408 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1986-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 19 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1408 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
717 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.6

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, May 24, 2:23 PM CDT, 3 hours 34 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 24, 3:14 PM CDT, 2 hours 43 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 24, 4:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 15 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 24, 5:54 PM CDT, 3 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
555 PM CDT SAT MAY 24 1986

INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHWEST ALABAMA WILL CAUSE DANGEROUS
FREQUENT LIGHTNING...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND POSSIBLE STRONG WINDS
AND HAIL IN MARION COUNTY UNTIL ABOUT 7 PM. IF THE THUNDERSTORMS
GROW STRONGER...AN ACTUAL WARNING MAY BE ISSUED.

AT 5:55 PM...INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS COVER MUCH OF WEST AND NORTH
MARION COUNTY. THEY WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AFT 15 MPH. THEY WILL
BE MOVING ACROSS THE HAMILTON-HACKLEBURG AREA BEFORE 6:30.

THE STRONG THUNDERSTORM THAT MOVED INTO NORTHWEST CULLMAN
COUNTY WEAKENED AFTER CROSSING THE WINSTON/CULLMAN COUNTY
LINE.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 5:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXColbert, Franklin57 min
May 24, 5:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLauderdale57 min
May 24, 6:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarion, Winston65 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.