Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Mobile, AL

July 27, 1988Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Jul 27, 1988, 8:02 PM CDT for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 28 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 27, 1988, 8:02 PM CDT (01:02 UTC)
Expired
Jul 27, 1988, 8:30 PM CDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Baldwin 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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 121 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, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 00:00Z on 1988-07-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 85 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 00:00Z on 1988-07-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -12 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
85 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-123 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1115 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-2 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 KMOB 280104
TORMOB
ALC003-280130-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
802 PM CDT WED JUL 27 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
          ...SOUTHERN BALDWIN
 
AT 750 PM THE BALDWIN COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD
3 TO 4 MILES WEST OF GULF SHORES ALABAMA.
 
MOBILE RADAR INDICATED A SMALL THUNDERSTORM NEAR THE WEST END OF
LITTLE LAGOON THAT WAS MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN
HOUR.
 
 
IF YOU LIVE IN A HOME OR APARTMENT...SEEK SHELTER IN THE
INNERMOST PORTION OF THE BUILDING ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  GET TO
A BASEMENT IF ONE IS AVAILABLE.  AVOID WINDOWS AND PROTECT YOUR
BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH CUSHIONS...BLANKETS...OR PILLOWS.

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, Jul 27, 3:29 PM CDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
327 PM CDT WED JUL 27 1988

AT 315 PM CDT MOBILE RADAR INDICATED A SHORT LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
WITH HEAVY RAIN FROM NEAR STOCKTON ALABAMA TO MOBILE TO PASCAGOLUA
MISSISSIPPI. NUMEROUS LIGHTNING STRIKES...SMALL HAIL...AND STREET
FLOODING HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN MOBILE. THESE STORMS ARE DRIFTING SLOWLY
TO THE SOUTHEAST.

PEOPLE IN THE MOBILE...AND BALDWIN COUNTIES OF SOUTHWEST ALABAMA AND
JACKSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI CAN EXPECT GUSTY WINDS...
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...AND SMALL HAIL FROM THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 28, 5:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBConecuh, Escambia34 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.