Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 64, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 17, 1987, 8:47 PM CDT for Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 43 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 17, 1987, 8:47 PM CDT (01:47 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 17, 1987, 9:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 43 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Pickens 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, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 93 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3282 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1032 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 7 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 10 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 32 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 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 17, 4:13 PM CDT, 4 hours 34 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL 410 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987 AT 405 PM CDT MONTGOMERYS WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM JUST EAST OF MONTGOMERY TO ANDALUSIA ALABAMA. THIS LINE WAS DRIFTING EAST. A CLUSTER OF VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED OVER WILCOX COUNTY. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MOVING INTO LOWNDES AND BUTLER COUNTIES SHORTLY. THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE PRODUCINGa STRONG GUSTY WINDS...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN AS THEY DRIFT EAST. CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA RESIDENTS SHOULD EXPECT MORE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP DURING THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON. HILTON...
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 7:39 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 740 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987 A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER EAST ALABAMA EXTENDS FROM JUST EAST OF GADSDEN ALONG THE COOSA RIVER AND THROUGH THE WESTERN PORTION OF TALLADEGA COUNTY. STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS A FEW MILES WEST OF THE CITY OF TALLADEGA. THIS LINE OF STORMS WAS MOVING TO THE EAST. ANOTHER LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST ALABAMA REACHES FROM VERNON AND SULLIGENT IN LAMAR COUNTY TO HAMILTON THEN OVER EXTREME NORTHERN ALABAMA TO THE TENNESSEE LINE. A THUNDERSHOWER WAS MOVING OVER THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM AT 735 DRIFTING SLOWLY TO THE SOUTHEAST. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSHOWERS WERE IN THE CENTREVILLE AREA AND FR)OM JUST EAST OF LINDEN IN MARENGO COUNTY THROUGH PORTIONS OF DALLAS AND AUTAUGA COUNTIES. VERY HEAVY RAIN CAN BE EXPECTED DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESTORMS
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 8:14 PM CDT, 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 815 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987 THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SLOWLY EASTWARD OVER TALLADEGA COUNTY. ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM WAS JUST WEST OF ANNISTON. THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN THE BIRMINGHAM AREA DRIFTING SLOWLY EAST. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS WERE OVER SHELBY COUNTY AND FROM CENTREVILLE SOUTH INTO MARENGO COUNTY. VERY LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS INDICATED. A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST ALABAMA CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST AND AT 810 EXTENDS FROM MILLPORT AND VERNON IN LAMAR COUNTY TO BRILLIANT IN MARION COUNTY. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS IN MISSISSIPPI WILL MOVE INTO PICKENS COUNTY BY AROUND 830. VERY HEAVY RAINFALL..Q.GUSTY WINDS POSSIBLE HAIL AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING MAY ACCOMPANY THE LARGER STORMS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 3:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 54 min |
| Aug 18, 3:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar, Marion | 44 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.