Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Birmingham, AL

June 7, 1986Madison County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 7, 1986, 12:28 PM CDT for Madison County, Alabama. It was in force for 62 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 7, 1986, 12:28 PM CDT (17:28 UTC)
Expired
Jun 7, 1986, 1:30 PM CDT
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Madison 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, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 152 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 1986-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 687 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 1986-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 81 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
687 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
873 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAAOO KHSV 071726
SVRHSV
ALC089-071830-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1228 PM CDT SAT JUN  7 1986
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  130 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
          ..MADISON

AT 1228 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN EASTERN
LIMESTONE COUNTY, JUST SOUTHEAST OF CAPSHAW. THIS THUNDERSTORM WILL
MOVE INTO MADISON COUNTY ALABAMA WITHIN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH,
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL, DEADLY LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.  FOR YOUR
PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DON'T DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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, Jun 7, 9:38 AM CDT, 2 hours 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
940 AM CDT SAT MAY 7 1986

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN...WERE CLUSTERED
ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL ALABAMA AT MID-MORNING. THEY WERE MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

AT 9:40 AM...THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALONG THE SHELBY/
JEFFERSON COUNTY LINE ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BIRMINGHAM AND
NEAR U. S. 280. THEY WILL CONTINUE NORTHEAST ACROSS NORTHEAST
SHELBY COUNTY TOWARD LEEDS AND INTO SOUTHERN ST CLAIR COUNTY.

OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER NORTHERN BIBB AND NORTHEAST
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY.

STILL OTHER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO NORTHWEST
ALABAMA'S FRANKLIN, MARION AND FAYETTE COUNTIES.

RTHE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRODUCING MOSTLY VERY HEAVY RAIN
AND LIGHTNING BUT...SO FAR...VERY LITTLE WIND.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 7, 12:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLimestone60 min
Jun 7, 12:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMorgan35 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.