Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 70, NWS Mobile, AL

May 24, 1988Bullock County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1988, 1:45 PM CDT for Bullock County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 min. 2 reports 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 24, 1988, 1:45 PM CDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1988, 2:45 PM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Bullock 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 24, 2:30 PM CDTHail 0.75Bullock, AL
May 24, 2:30 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 0Bullock, 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 165 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 12:00Z on 1988-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 119 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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 12:00Z on 1988-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 138 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
119 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
987 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

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, May 24, 12:34 PM CDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
1230 PM CDT MON MAY 24 1988

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 170 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT FOR ESCAMBIA...
SANTA ROSA...OKALOOSA...WALTON...BAY...HOLMES...WASHINGTON AND THE
ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL...WERE OVER
SOUTH ALABAMA FROM MONTGOMERY TO 35 MILES NORTH OF MOBILE. THE HEAVIEST
RAIN WAS JUST NORTH OF MONTGOMERY AND OVER NORTH MONROE COUNTY IN
ALABAMA.

ANOTHER PATCH OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS
OVER THE GULF 30 TO 100 MILES SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST OF PENSACOLA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 TO 40 MILES AN HOUR.
Local storm report, May 24, 1:27 PM CDT, 18 minutes before
ATTN SELS
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
125 PM CDT TUE MAY 24 1988

TIME        CO/STATE    EVENT
1225 PM     CLARKE/AL   MARBLE SIZE HAIL REPORTED BY PUBLIC IN
                        WALKER COUNTY.
1235 PM     MONROE/AL   PING PONG BALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED IN RURAL
                        PART OF NORTHERN MONROE COUNTY BY EVERGREEN
                        STATE.
1250 PM     CLARKE/AL   DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED JUST SOUTH OdF GROVE
                        HILL BY GROVE HILL STATE.
117 PM      MONROE/AL   GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED AT CLAIBORNE
                        BY EVERGREEN STATE.
Special weather statement, May 24, 1:34 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
135 PM CDT MON MAY 24 1988

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 170 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT FOR ESCAMBIA...
SANTA ROSA...OKALOOSA...WALTON...BAY...HOLMES...WASHINGTON AND THE
ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL WAS
OVER SOUTH ALABAMA FROM NEAR MONTGOMERY SOUTHWEST TO 50 MILES NORTH
OF MOBILE. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRODUCING HAIL IN MANY AREAS.

ANOTHER PATCH OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL
WAS OVER THE GULF FROM 40 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PANAMA CITY WEST TO THE
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35v TO 40 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 11:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBElmore40 min
May 24, 11:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBDallas37 min
May 24, 12:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMonroe42 min
May 24, 12:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMontgomery67 min
May 24, 12:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke51 min
May 24, 1:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMontgomery62 min
May 24, 1:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBButler59 min
May 24, 3:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile30 min
May 24, 4:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBEscambia22 min
May 24, 5:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHouston38 min
May 24, 1:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHancock43 min
May 24, 3:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBGeorge37 min
May 24, 3:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBForrest30 min
May 24, 5:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBPearl River32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1988Every 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.