Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 12, 1986Walker County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 12, 1986, 4:55 PM CST for Walker County, Alabama. It was in force for 65 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 12, 1986, 4:55 PM CST (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 1986, 6:00 PM CST
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Walker 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 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 101 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 941 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -117 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 562 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 339 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 122254
TORBHM
ALC127-130000-

BULLETIN-EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
455 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE
UNTIL 6 PM CST FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN

ALABAMA... WALKER

LARGE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLY CONTAINING A TORNADO WERE
MOVING TOWARD WALKER COUNTY FROM NEAR FAYETTE.

A TORNADO WARNING ALSO CONTINUES UNTIL 5:15 FOR LAMAR...PICKENS
FAYETTE...WINSTON AND MARION COUNTIES AND FOR TUSCALOOSA COUNTY
UNTIL 5:30 PM CST. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT
FOR MARENGO AND ST CLAIR COUNTIES UNTIL 5:30.

PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Mar 12, 2:45 PM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
 245 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AT 2:10 PM CST...ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS REPORT WIND DAMAGE IN
   EAST-CENTRAL ALABAMA. THE ROOF OF A SERVICE STATION WAS
   DAMAGED ON STATE ROUTE 21 NORTH OF TALLADEGA. A GASOLINE
   PUMP AND AUTOMOBILE WAS ALSO DAMAGED AT THE SERVICE STATION.

...AT 2:30 PM...THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY IN GADSDEN
   REPORTED SOME TREE DAMAGE IN ETOWAH COUNTY.

-

                                                                      ]

Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:18 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
3:15 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AT 3:15 PM CST THE PICKENS COUNTY SHERRIF'S OFFICE IN WEST
   CENTRAL ALABAMA REPORTS AT LEAST TWO PERSONS K]ILLED AND
   A NUMBER OF INJURIES FROM A TORNADO. THE TORNADO STRUCK
   BETWEEN PICKENSVILLE AND CARROLLTON AROUND 2:15 THIS
   AFTERNOON. AMBULANCES HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED. THERE IS
   EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN THE AREA.

Local storm report, Mar 12, 3:49 PM CST, 1 hour 6 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
3:45 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...THE PICKENS COUNTY SHERRIF'S OFFICE AND ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS
   REPORT EXTENSIVE TORNADO DAMAGE IN PICKENS COUNTY OF WEST
   CENTRAL ALABAMA AROUND 2:15 TO 2:30 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON.
   REPORTS ARE STILL SKETCHY. THE WORST DAMAGE WAS BETWEEN
   CARROLLTON AND PICKENSVILLE.

   EARLY REPORTS INDICATE AT LEAST TWO PERSONS KILLED. THERE
   ARE A NUMBER OF INJURIES BUT THE EXACT NUMBER IS NOT KNOWN.
   POWER INTERRUPTIONS ARE HINDERING REPORTS. POWER IS OUT IN
   MOST OF KENNEDY...LOCATED IN LAMAR COUNTY.

...AT 3:34 PM...THE BIRMINGHAM AMATEUR RADIO CLUB REPORTED
   LARGE HAIL...GOLF BALL SIZE...3 MILES SOUTH OF GUIN IN
   MARION COUNTY.

...AT 3:45 PM...THE MARION COUNTY EMA OFFICE AT HAMILTON REPORTED
   A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON STATE ROUTE 36 WEST OF BRILLIANT. TREES
   ARE DOWN AND THERE HAS BEEN PROPERTY DAMAGE. OFFICIALS ARE
   ENROUTE TO THE AREA.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 12, 1:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pickens	65 min
Mar 12, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Pickens	60 min
Mar 12, 3:08 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	67 min
Mar 12, 3:35 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Winston	40 min
Mar 12, 3:35 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Pickens	40 min
Mar 12, 3:56 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin, Lawrence	64 min
Mar 12, 4:10 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence	65 min
Mar 12, 4:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion, Winston	63 min
Mar 12, 4:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Lamar, Pickens	63 min
Mar 12, 4:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	65 min
Mar 12, 4:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	65 min
Mar 12, 4:30 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	60 min
Mar 12, 5:02 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	58 min
Mar 12, 5:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette, Pickens	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1986 Every tornado warning in 1986 Tornadoes 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.