Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Mobile, AL

May 12, 1987Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 12, 1987, 4:25 PM CDT for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 55 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 12, 1987, 4:25 PM CDT (21:25 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1987, 5:20 PM CDT
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Mobile 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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 164 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, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1987-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 395 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, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1987-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 26 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
395 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
644 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 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 KMOB 122126
SVRMOB
ALC097-122220-

BULLETIN..IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
425 PM CST TUE MAY 12 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 520 PM CST FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY IN ALABAMA...

...MOBILE

AT 420 PM A REPORT OF LARGE HAIL WAS RECEIVED AT THIS OFFICE.  THE HAIL
WAS REPORTED ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF THE AIRPORT.  THE MOBILE RADAR
INDICA4TED A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOPBILE AREA.
PEA SIZE HAIL JUST BEGAN AT THE AIRPORT.

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, May 12, 3:54 PM CDT, 31 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
355 PM CDT TUE MAY 12 1987

...VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...

WEATHER SERVICE RADARS AT 350 PM INDICATED A RANDOM PATTERN OF
THUNDERSTORMS..SOME VERY HEAVY..OVER MOST OF SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA.  THEY WERE MOVING TOWARD THE EAST ABOUT 10 MPH.
A CLUSTER OF STRONG STORMS IS LOCATED OVER MOBILE.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..GUSTY WINDS..
TORRENTIAL RAINFALL WHICH WILL FLOOD STREETS AND ROADWAYS.  IN ADDITION
..HAIL MAY OCCUR WITH THE HEAVIEST STORMS.

RESIDENTS OF THE AREA SHOULD BE ALERT TO THE APPROACH OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS AND MOVE INDOORS.  MOTORISTS SHOULD DRIVE WITH CAUTION
IN THE INTENSE RAINFALL.

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.