Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 2, 1988Marengo County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Feb 2, 1988, 6:06 PM CST for Marengo County, Alabama. It was in force for 54 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Feb 2, 1988, 6:06 PM CST (00:06 UTC)
Expired
Feb 2, 1988, 7:00 PM CST
In force
54 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Marengo 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 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 91 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, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1988-02-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1988-02-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -31 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 030018 COR
TORBHM
ALC091-030100-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING CORRECTED FOR TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
606 PM CST TUE FEB 2 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...

IN SOUTH ALABAMA
          ...MARENGO

AT 600  PM...STATES TROOPER OFFICE REPORTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN
SOUTH MARENGO COUNTY...NEAR COUNTY ROAD 6 AND ONE HALF MILE FROM HWY
10.  THIS TORNADO WILL BE MOING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

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, Feb 2, 2:38 PM CST, 3 hours 28 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
235 PM CST TUE FEB 2 1988

A THUNDERSTORM WITH HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL BE MOVING
ACROSS PICKENS COUNTY.

AT 235 PM CST THE THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED ALONG THE ALABAMA-
MISSISSIPPI BORDER ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF ALICEVILLE.  THIS STORM WAS
MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL BE MOVING ACROSS THE TOWNS
OF ALICEVILLE AND CARROLLTON BY 3 PM.

MOTORISTS SHOULD REDUCE THEIR SPEED WHEN ENCOUNTERING THE HEAVY RAIN
AND BE AWARE OF POSSIBILITY LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING.

ELSEWHERE AREAS OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WERE LOCATED OVER TUSCALOOSA AND
JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

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.