Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 20, 1989, 10:36 PM CST for Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 69 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 20, 1989, 10:36 PM CST (04:36 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 20, 1989, 11:45 PM CST
- In force
- 69 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Pickens 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 00:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 93 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 164 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -59 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 805 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 288 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 415 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
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, Feb 20, 8:58 PM CST, 1 hour 38 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, 10:30 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 3 hr |
| 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
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1989Every severe thunderstorm 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.