Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 49, NWS Mobile, AL

May 10, 1988Clarke County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 10, 1988, 2:17 PM CDT for Clarke County, Alabama. It was in force for 28 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 10, 1988, 2:17 PM CDT (19:17 UTC)
Expired: May 10, 1988, 2:45 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Clarke County, AL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 10, 2:25 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Clarke, AL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 1447 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 5.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 101918
SVRMOB
ALC025-101945-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
217 PM CDT TUE MAY 10 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  245 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
          ...EASTERN CLARKE
 
AT 215 PM MOBILE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR WHATLEY
ALABAMA. THIS STORM ALREADY PRODUCED PEA SIZE HAIL AND IS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
 
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDE0RSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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, May 10, 9:27 AM CDT, 4 hours 50 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
930 AM CDT TUE MAY 10 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND
   SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...

AT 925 AM CDT MOBILE RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FROM
30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LAUREL MISSISSIPPI TO NEAR CHATOM ALABAMA. THE
STORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHWARD AT 15 MPH AND ARE LIKELY PRODUCING HEAVY
RAINFALL...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...AND POSSIBLY
SMALL HAIL.

THE THUNDERSTOMS WERE PART OF A LARGER LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
AHEAD OF A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT. THIS FRONT SHOULD PUSH SOUTHWARD INTO
COASTAL MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA AND TRIGGER MORE THUNDERSTORMS THIS
AFTERNO!ON.

Special weather statement, May 10, 1:28 PM CDT, 49 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
125 PM CDT TUE MAY 10 1988

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT FOR A PORTION
OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA INCLUDING BAY...WASHINGTON...AND HOMLES COUNTIES.

AT 135 PM CDT...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER THE INTERIOR OF
SOUTHEAST ALABAMA BEYOND 125 MILES NORTHEAST OF PENSACOLA.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 10:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Coosa	55 min
May 9, 11:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Tallapoosa	52 min
May 10, 7:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Autauga, Elmore	62 min
May 10, 1:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Elmore	69 min
May 10, 1:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MOB	Elmore, Tallapoosa	42 min
May 10, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Macon	45 min
May 10, 2:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Elmore	64 min
May 10, 2:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	41 min
May 10, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Barbour	67 min
May 10, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Macon	67 min
May 10, 3:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Butler	69 min
May 10, 3:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Conecuh	52 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.