Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Mobile, AL

September 16, 1988Macon County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Sep 16, 1988, 2:37 PM CDT for Macon County, Alabama. It was in force for 38 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 16, 1988, 2:37 PM CDT (19:37 UTC)
Expired
Sep 16, 1988, 3:15 PM CDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Macon 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, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 152 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 1988-09-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 326 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1988-09-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 69 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
326 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
545 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMGM 161945 COR
TORMGM
ALC087-162015-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED CORRECTION
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
237 PM CDT FRI SEP 16 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...

IN SOUTH ALABAMA
          ...SOUTHWESTERN MACON

A TORNADO WAS OBSERVED ON MONTGOMERYS DOPPLER RADAR MOVING NORTH
AT AN UNDETERMINED SPEED IN EXTREME NORTHWEST MACON COUNTY.


IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 16, 8:07 AM CDTTornado WarningMOBBaldwin38 min
Sep 16, 1:10 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBDale35 min
Sep 16, 1:50 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBDale40 min
Sep 16, 2:10 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBCoffee, Pike35 min
Sep 16, 3:56 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBTallapoosa49 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.