Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 12, 1988, 3:57 PM CST for Greene County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Mar 12, 1988, 3:57 PM CST (21:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 12, 1988, 5:00 PM CST
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Greene 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, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 70 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
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 630 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 253 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 379 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 KBHM 122157
TORBHM
ALC063-122300-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
357 PM CST SAT MAR 12 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
...GREENE
AT 400 PM...RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN SUMTER COUNTY
MOVING TO THE EAST AT 60 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING ACROSS
GREENE COUNTY.
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.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, Mar 12, 3:30 PM CST, 27 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 330 PM CST SAT MAR 12 1988 ...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 18 CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CST... AT 325PM CST STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN SOUTHERN PICKENS COUNTY JUST WEST OF ALICEVILLE. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 50 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL MOVE INTO TUSCALOOSA COUNTY WITHIN THE HOUR. VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND SOME HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED FROM THESE THUNDERSTORMS. OTHER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NORTHEAST TUSCALOOSA COUNTY...NORTHEAST ALONG THE JEFFERSON/WALKER COUNTY LINE. VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN MISSISSIPPI JUST WEST OF SUMTER AND PICKENS COUNTIES. v THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE ABOVE COUNTIES SHORTLY. PERSONS IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR THREATENING WEATHER.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 4:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Hale | 43 min |
| Mar 12, 5:18 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Greene, Hale | 42 min |
| Mar 12, 5:53 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb, Hale, Marengo, Perry | 67 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.