Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 25, 1988Walker County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1988, 12:58 PM CDT for Walker County, Alabama. It was in force for 37 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 25, 1988, 12:58 PM CDT (17:58 UTC)
Expired: Apr 25, 1988, 1:35 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Walker 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, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 101 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1827 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 437 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

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, Apr 25, 11:25 AM CDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Apr 25, 11:28 AM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Apr 25, 11:39 AM CDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Apr 25, 12:03 PM CDT, 55 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Apr 25, 12:26 PM CDT, 32 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1225 PM CDT MON APR 25 1988

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER NORTHERN LAMAR AND WESTERN
MARION COUNTY. THE STATE POLICE HAVE REPORTED PEA SIZE HAIL IN
DETROIT OF NORTHERN LAMAR COUNTY AROUND 1215 PM. THE STORM WAS MOVING
TO THE EAST AT OVER 60 MPH AND WILL BE EFFECTING HAMILTON AND LATER
THE CITY OF BRILLIANT.

AT 1225 PM CDT...OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN SOUTHERN
LAMAR COUNTY JUST EAST OF MILLPORT...NORTHEAST FAYETTE COUNTY...AND
JUST SOUTHWEST OF THE CITY OF ANNISTON.

VIVID LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLY HAIL. PERSONS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT qTO CHANGING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IF A WARNING IS
ISSUED OR THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

Special weather statement, Apr 25, 12:46 PM CDT, 12 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1245 PM CDT MON APR 25 1988

AT 1240 VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN AN LINE FROM THE ALABAMA STATE
LINE EAST...TO FIVE MILES SOUTH OF BERRY IN SOUTH FAYETTE AND LAMAR
COUNTIES. OTHER STORMS WERE OVER EXTREME NORTHEAST WALKER COUNTY...AND
ACROSS CENTRAL MARION COUNTY ABOUT TEN MILES EAST OF HAMILTON.

RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF
ALABAMA.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 65 MILES AN HOUR.

VIVID LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLY HAIL. PERSONS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO CHANGING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IF A WARNING IS
ISSUED OR THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 25, 4:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	47 min
Apr 25, 12:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	47 min
Apr 25, 1:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	39 min
Apr 25, 1:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	42 min
Apr 25, 1:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Talladega	49 min
Apr 25, 2:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	42 min
Apr 25, 2:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cleburne	28 min
Apr 25, 2:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	43 min
Apr 25, 2:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah	58 min
Apr 25, 3:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	18 min
Apr 25, 3:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne	28 min
Apr 25, 3:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne	32 min
Apr 25, 3:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Randolph	42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1988 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.