Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 60, NWS Mobile, AL

August 17, 1987Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 17, 1987, 1:53 PM CDT for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 17, 1987, 1:53 PM CDT (18:53 UTC)
Expired
Aug 17, 1987, 3:00 PM CDT
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Baldwin 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, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 121 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 1987-08-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 701 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 1987-08-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -22 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
701 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
802 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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 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, 1:33 PM CDT, 20 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
130 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987

...A SPECIAL MARINE WARNING FOR THE ALABAMA COASTAL WATERS INCLUDING
MOBILE IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 PM CDT...

AT 120PM CDT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT MOBILE INDICATED
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN HAD DEVELOPED OVER
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA. THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER
MOBILE BAY AND IN SOUTHERN BALDWIN COUNTY. THE STORMS ARE MOVING
TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...TORRENTIAL RAIN...AND POSSIBLY
SOME SMALL HAIL WILL ACCOMMPANY THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON.
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 1:39 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
130 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987

...A SPECIAL MARINE WARNING FOR THE ALABAMA COASTAL WATERS INCLUDING
MOBILE BAY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 PM CDT...

AT 120PM CDT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT MOBILE INDICATED
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN HAD DEVELOPED OVER
SOUTHWEST ALABAMA. THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER
MOBILE BAY AND IN SOUTHERN BALDWIN COUNTY. THE STORMS ARE MOVING
TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...TORRENTIAL RAIN...AND POSSIBLY
SOME SMALL HAIL WILL ACCOMMPANY THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON.
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 1:39 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
140 PM CDT MON AUG 17 1987

AT 130 PM CDT...A LARGE CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN
WAS OVER SOUTH ESCAMBIA AND SANTA ROSA COUNTIES IN FLORIDA AND EAST
BALDWIN COUNTY IN ALABAMA. THE HEAVIEST RAIN WAS FROM MILTON SOUTHWEST
TO JUST WEST OF PENSACOLA.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE PERIODS OF VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL.
PEOPLE IN THESE AFFECTED AREAS SHOULD BE PREPARED TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER
AND STAY INFORMED OF THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER SITUATION.

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER MUCH OF SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
AND THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND OUT OVER THE GULF FOR 100 MILES SOUTH OF
PENSACOLA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AT 8 MILES AN HOUR.

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.