Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Mobile, AL

May 10, 1988Elmore County, Tallapoosa County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at May 10, 1988, 1:48 PM CDT for Elmore County, Tallapoosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 42 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 10, 1988, 1:48 PM CDT (18:48 UTC)
Expired: May 10, 1988, 2:30 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Elmore County, AL, Tallapoosa 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, 2:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 0	Elmore, AL
May 10, 2:40 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Elmore, 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 116 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 KMGM 101849
TORMGM
ALC051-123-101930-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
148 PM CDT TUE MAY 10 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
          ...ELMORE...TALLAPOOSA
 
AT 146 PM CDT MONTGOMERY RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN EASTERN
ELMORE COUNTY APPROACHING SOUTHERN TALLAPOOSA COUNTY. THE STORM WAS
LOCATED 5 MILES WEST OF TALLASSEE MOVING
EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
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, May 10, 9:27 AM CDT, 4 hours 21 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, 20 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, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Macon	45 min
May 10, 2:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke	28 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

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes 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.