Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 63, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 5, 1987Marengo County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 1987, 5:59 PM CDT for Marengo County, Alabama. It was in force for 26 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 5, 1987, 5:59 PM CDT (22:59 UTC)
Expired
Aug 5, 1987, 6:25 PM CDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Marengo 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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 91 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 1987-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 445 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 1987-08-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 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
445 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-105 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1053 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
17 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 052309 COR
SVRBHM
ALC091-060000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING               CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
559 PM CDT WED AUG 5 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...

IN SOUTH ALABAMA
          ...SOUTHERN MARENGO

AT 555 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN SOUTHEAST
MARENGO COUNTY JUST EAST OF DIXONS MILLS. THIS STORM IS MOVING SLOWLY
TO THE WEST AND WILL MOVE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PART OF MARENGO COUNTY
DURING THE NEXT HOUR.

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, Aug 5, 12:13 PM CDT, 5 hours 46 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
1210 PM CDT WED AUG 05 1987

AT 1205 PN CDT WEATHER RADAR AT MONTGOMERY SHOWED RAPIDLY DEVELOPING
THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL ALABAMA. A SHORT LINE OF VERY STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED FROM 20 MILES WEST OF GREENVILLE TO CLAYTON
ALABAMA. THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS LINE WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT
15 MPH.  SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE OVER THE CITY OF
MONTGOMERY WITHIN THE HOUR.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY
SURFACE WINDS...HEAVY RAINS AND SOME HAIL.
Special weather statement, Aug 5, 3:59 PM CDT, 2 hours before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
345 PM CDT WED AUG 5 1987

AT 335PM CDT WEATHER RADAR AT MONTGOMERY SHOWED A SHORT LINE OF VERY
STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER CENTRAL ALABAMA BETWEEN CLANTON
AND MONROEVILLE. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER WILCOX
COUNTY JUST EAST OF CAMDEN. THIS LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING EAST
AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

ELSEWHERE..A FEW INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER...ELM'ORE...MONTGOMERY...
BUTLER AND CRENSHAW COUNTIES.

PERSONS NEAR THESE STORMS MAY EXPECT LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS OF RAIN...
VERY INTENSE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND STRONG GUSTY SURFACE WINDS.
Special weather statement, Aug 5, 5:49 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
545 PM CDT WED AUG 5 1987

AT 545PM CDT WEATHER RADAR AT MONTGOMERY SHOWED A VERY STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS MID WAY BETWEEN LINDEN AND CAMDEN IN WEST CENTRAL
ALABAMA.  THIS THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING SLOWLY TO THE WEST AND HAIL
WAS ALSO INDICATED BY RADAR.

PERSONS NEAR THIS STORM CAN EXPECT HEAVY DOWNPOURS OF RAIN...VERY
INTENSE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY SURFACE WINDS...AND HAIL.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 5, 6:54 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXGreene36 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

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.