Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 12, 1986Blount County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 12, 1986, 7:57 PM CST for Blount County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 12, 1986, 7:57 PM CST (01:57 UTC)
Expired: Mar 12, 1986, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Blount 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, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1390 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 83 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 279 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 358 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.9

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 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, 3:18 PM CST, 4 hours 39 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, 4 hours 8 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.

Local storm report, Mar 12, 5:17 PM CST, 2 hours 40 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
5:15 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AT 5:11 PM...THE CULLMAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE REPORTED
   A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER NORTHWEST CULLMAN COUNTY NEAR HIGHWAY
   157. WHEN A FUNNEL CLOUD REACHES THE GROUND IT IS A TORNADO.
   THIS ONE COULD TOUCH DOWN AT ANY TIME.

   THE AREA IS ALREADY UNDER A TORNADO WARNING. RESIDENTS
   SHOULD CONTINUE TO TAKE COVER.

Local storm report, Mar 12, 5:48 PM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
5:50 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AS OF 5:45 PM...REPORTS ARE STILL SKETCHY FROM THE TORNADO
   DAMAGE AREA IN WEST ALABAMA'S PICKENS COUNTY. TWO PERSONS
   ARE CONFIRMED DEAD WITH AN UNDETERMINED NUMBER OF INJURIES.
   DAMAGE IS EXTENSIVE IN THE AREA BETWEEN CARROLLTON AND
   PICKENSVILLE. MUCH OF THE DAMAGE IS ALONG PICKENS COUNTY
   HIGHWAY 86.

   THE TWO FATALITIES INCLUDED A FATHER AND DAUGHTER KILLED
   BY A FALLING CHIMNEY.

Local storm report, Mar 12, 7:26 PM CST, 31 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
725 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AT 7:23 PM...THE CULLMAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE REPORTS
   MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN THE BATTLE GROUND COMMUNITY. THIS IS
   LOCATED IN EXTREME NORTHWEST CULLMAN COUNTY ALONG STATE
   ROUTE 157. EARLIER...LARGE HAIL...THREE-FOURTHS INCH IN
   DIAMETER WAS REPORTED NEAR THE CULLMAN/WINSTON COUNTY LINE
   SOUTH OF THE JONES CHAPEL COMMUNITY.

   THESE COMMUNITIES ARE IN NORTH-CENTRAL ALABAMA ABOUT 55 MILES
   NORTH OF BIRMINGHAM.

Local storm report, Mar 12, 7:35 PM CST, 22 minutes before

STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
735 PM CST WED MAR 12 1986

...AT 7:23 PM...THE CULLMAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE REPORTS
   MARBLE SIZE HAIL IN THE BATTLE GROUND COMMUNITY. THIS IS
   LOCATED IN EXTREME NORTHWEST CULLMAN COUNTY ALONG STATE
   ROUTE 157. EARLIER...LARGE HAIL...THREE-FOURTHS INCH IN
   DIAMETER WAS REPORTED NEAR THE CULLMAN/WINSTON COUNTY LINE
   SOUTH OF THE JONES CHAPEL COMMUNITY.

...AT 7:32 PM...THE CULLMAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE REPORTED
   WINDS ESTIMATED TO 65 MPH ALONG WITH HAIL IN THE WEST POINT
   COMMUNITY IN WEST CULLMAN COUNTY.

   THESE COMMUNITIES ARE IN NORTH-CENTRAL ALABAMA ABOUT 55 MILES
   NORTH OF BIRMINGHAM.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 12, 6:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa, Walker	63 min
Mar 12, 6:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene	63 min
Mar 12, 6:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	65 min
Mar 12, 6:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	65 min
Mar 12, 7:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale, Marengo	57 min
Mar 12, 7:33 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	57 min
Mar 12, 7:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	50 min
Mar 12, 7:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	64 min
Mar 12, 8:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	52 min
Mar 12, 8:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jackson, Marshall	54 min
Mar 12, 9:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Tuscaloosa	64 min
Mar 12, 9:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	48 min
Mar 12, 9:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	38 min
Mar 13, 12:45 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	45 min
Mar 13, 1:06 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	24 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.