Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 19, 1988Pickens County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 19, 1988, 3:30 PM CST for Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 19, 1988, 3:30 PM CST (21:30 UTC)
Expired: Jan 19, 1988, 4:30 PM CST
In force: 60 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

Jackson, MS (KJAN), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 215 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: 1224 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 660 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 349 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.1
Supercell composite: 10.8

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, Jan 19, 9:33 AM CST, 5 hours 57 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
930 AM CST TUE JAN 19 1988

...A STRONG SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR ALABAMA...

THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER IN ALABAMA TODAY AND
TONIGHT. PERSONS IN ALABAMA NEED TO KEEP IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH
LATE-BREAKING WEATHER INTORMATION AS THE DAY GOES ON.

THERE ARE STRONG INDICATIONS THAT TORNADO OR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCHES WILL BE NEEDED FOR VARIOUS PARTS OF THE STATE.

WHILE SOME THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME VERY STRONG LATER THIS
MORNING...ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTHWEST...THE MOST INTENSE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE STATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT.

BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.

Special weather statement, Jan 19, 12:27 PM CST, 3 hours 3 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1225 PM CST TUE JAN 19 1988

...A STRONG SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR ALABAMA...

THERE IS A HIGH RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER IN ALABAMA THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT. PERSONS IN ALABAMA NEED TO KEEP IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH
LATE-BREAKING WEATHER INTORMATION AS THE DAY GOES ON.

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 5 CONTINUES FOR A LARGE PART OF NORTH
   AND WEST-CENTRAL ALABAMA UNTIL 6 PM CST.

AT 1225 PM...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS WERE
OCCURRING OVER NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA. HOWEVER...
MORE NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS IN EAST MISSISSIPPI WILL BE
MOVING INTO NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA AS EARLY AS
100-130 CST THIS; AFTERNOON. SOME OF THE MORE INTENSE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE APPROACHING NORTHWEST ALABAMA.

KEEP IN CLOSE TOUCH WITH LATE-BREAKING WEATHER INFORMATION.

Local storm report, Jan 19, 2:25 PM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
225 PM CST TUE JAN 19 1988

...ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS REPORT WIND GUSTS TO 55 MPH AT THE
   FAYETTE AIRPORT AT ABOUT 210 PM CST. FAYETTE POLICE REPORT
   SOME MINOR WIND DAMAGE...A COUPLE OF AWNINGS BLOWN OFF.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 19, 12:43 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marion	62 min
Jan 19, 12:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	59 min
Jan 19, 12:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Franklin	67 min
Jan 19, 1:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	64 min
Jan 19, 1:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar	61 min
Jan 19, 2:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	61 min
Jan 19, 3:13 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	62 min
Jan 19, 3:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	55 min
Jan 19, 4:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone, Madison	54 min
Jan 19, 4:06 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene	54 min
Jan 19, 5:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	54 min
Jan 19, 5:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb, Hale, Tuscaloosa	54 min
Jan 19, 5:31 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	29 min
Jan 19, 5:35 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Limestone, Madison, Morgan	2 hr
Jan 19, 5:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson	61 min
Jan 19, 5:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bibb, Shelby	61 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.