Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 19, 1988, 12:53 PM CST for Colbert County, Franklin County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jan 19, 1988, 12:53 PM CST (18:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 19, 1988, 2:00 PM CST
- In force
- 67 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Colbert County, AL, Franklin 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
Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 196 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3584 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 79 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 21 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 88 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KHSV 191853
TORHSV
ALC033-059-192000-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1253 PM CST TUE JAN 19 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
IN NORTH ALABAMA
...COLBERT...FRANKLIN
A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY RADAR IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER
OF MARION COUNTY AND WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 TO 5p0 MPH AND WILL
MOVE THROUGH THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF COLBERT AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES
DURING THE NEXT HOUR.What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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, 3 hours 20 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, 26 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.
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, 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, 3:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 60 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
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes 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.