Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 86, NWS Mobile, AL

August 11, 1986Montgomery County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 11, 1986, 5:20 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Alabama. It was in force for 70 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 11, 1986, 5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)
Expired
Aug 11, 1986, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
70 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Montgomery 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 120 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 12:00Z on 1986-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 165 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 12:00Z on 1986-08-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
165 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-74 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
937 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
44 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 
TTAA00 KBHM 112227
SVRBHM
ALC101-082330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
ISSUED BY BIRMINGHAM
520 PM CDT MON AUG 11 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM CDT  FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN

ALABAMA... MONTGOMERY.

AT 515 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST SOUTH OF
MONTGOMERY MOVING VERY SLOWLY EAST. THIS VERY INTENSE THUNDERSTORM
WILL PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS..TORRENTIAL RAIN..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
AND POSSIBLE HAIL. MARBLE SIZE HAIL AND SEVERAL POWER OUTAGES OCCURRED
IN MONTGOMERY AS THIS THUNDERSTORM PASSED THROUGH.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS DEFINED AS HAVING WINDS OF 58 MPH OR STRONGER
AND/OR HAIL 3/4 INCH IN DIAMETER OR GREATER.

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, Aug 11, 3:20 PM CDT, 2 hours before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE, AL.
320 PM CDT MON AUG 11 1986

...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS MOBILE
COUNTY ALABAMA...

THE MOBILE RADAR AT 315 PM INDICATED A CLUSTER OF DEVELOPING THUNDER
STORMS OVER THE CENTRAL SECTIONS OF MOBILE COUNTY.  THEY WERE MOVING
TOWARD THE EAST AT 8 MPH.

THESE THUNDERSTORM WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP DURING THE NEXT HOUR OR
TWO AND MAY DUMP SOME HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN AND AROUND THE
METROPOLITAN MOBILE AREA.   RAINFALL AMOUNTS EXCEEDING THREE INCHES
ARE POSSIBLE BEFORE 600 PM.

THE HEAVY RAIN WILL CAUSE STREETS AND LOW-LYING AREAS TO BE COVERED
WITH WATER.  MOTORISTS SHOULD BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL DURING THE EVENING
RUSH HOUR DUE TO WATER ON ROADS AND LOW VISIBILITIES IN HEAVY RAIN.
IN ADDITION..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL OCCUR.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 10, 7:40 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBMobile50 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.