Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Birmingham, AL

February 20, 1989Lauderdale County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Feb 20, 1989, 10:30 PM CST for Lauderdale County, Alabama. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 20, 1989, 10:30 PM CST (04:30 UTC)
Expired: Feb 21, 1989, 1:30 AM CST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Lauderdale 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 662 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 196 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 199 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 KHSV 210434
FFWHSV
ALC077-210730-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1033 PM CST MON FEB 20 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  130 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
          ...LAUDERDALE
 
FLOODING IS IN PROGRESS IN THE LAUDERDALE COUNTY AREA OF NORTHWEST
ALABAMA AT THIS TIME. A BAND OF HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS HAS MOVED THROUGH
NORTHWEST ALABAMA AND NOW EXTENDS FROM ATHENS THROUGH MOULTON TO
WINSTON COUNTY.
 
THERE HAVE BEEN NO ACTUAL RAINFALL MEASUREMENTS BUT EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS IN FLORENCE HAVE REPORTED WATER UP HIGH ENOUGH
TO ENTER PEOPLES HOMES AND CLOSE ROADS.
 
THE HEAVIEST RAIN IS OVER FOR NOW FOR LAUDERDALE COUNTY BUT A STEADY
LIGHT TO MODERATE RAINFALL SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH THE NEXT FEW HOURS.
 
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
TiHE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, Feb 20, 8:58 PM CST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
857 PM CST MON FEB 20 1989

    ...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO WEST AND NORTHWEST ALABAMA...

AT 845 PM THIS EVENING RADAR INDICATED A BAND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDER
STORMS STRETCHING FROM MIDDLE TENNESSEE ACROSS THE NORTHWEST CORNER
OF ALABAMA AND INTO NORTH CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI.

THE STRONGEST OF THESE STORMS WILL BE ENTERING NORTHERN LAMAR AND
MARION COUNTIES AROUND 915 PM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF TORNADIC
ACITIVITY AND LARGE HAIL. THERE IS A GOOD POSSIBILITY THAT WARNINGS
WILL HAVE TO BE ISSUED AS THIS STORM ENTERS ALABAMA.

PERSONS SHOULD REMAIN INFORMED ON THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION
AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER MISSISSIPPI AND WILL
CONTINUE MOVING INTO ALABAMA DURING THE NIGHT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 20, 9:17 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	58 min
Feb 20, 9:48 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette	57 min
Feb 20, 10:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Walker, Winston	61 min
Feb 20, 10:16 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence	44 min
Feb 20, 10:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	69 min
Feb 20, 11:03 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Pickens	57 min
Feb 20, 11:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	55 min
Feb 20, 11:23 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Greene, Tuscaloosa	67 min
Feb 20, 11:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	66 min
Feb 20, 11:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson	62 min
Feb 21, 1:00 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Limestone, Madison	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 1989 Every flash flood warning in 1989

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.