Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 20, 1989Chilton County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 20, 1989, 7:17 PM CST for Chilton County, Alabama. It was in force for 58 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 20, 1989, 7:17 PM CST (01:17 UTC)
Expired
Mar 20, 1989, 8:15 PM CST
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Chilton 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, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 45 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 00:00Z on 1989-03-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 298 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 00:00Z on 1989-03-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 181 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
298 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1556 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
181 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
229 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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, Mar 20, 4:03 PM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
400 PM CST MON MAR 20 1989

        ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 41 IN EFFECT FOR
 MUCH OF ALABAMA UNTIL 900 PM CST...

THE WATCH AREA IS TO THE SOUTH AND WEST OF SUCH COUNTIES OF GREENE...
HALE AND PERRY AND EXTENDS TO THE GULF COAST. INCLUDED IN THE WATCH
ARE CITIES SUCH AS LINDEN...MARION...DEMOPOLIS...GROVE HILL...MOBILE...
AND BAY MINETTE.

AT 400 PM CST A STRONG COLD FRONT OVER CENTRAL ARKANSAS AND EASTERN
TEXAS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST TOWARD ALABAMA WHILE THE STRONGEST STORMS
WERE LOCATED IN STILL IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND THE SOUTHERN HALF
OF MISSISSIPPI. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING NEAR THE ALABAMA/
MISSISSIPPI LINE AT 400 PM CST. THESE WILL BEGIN TO MOVE INTO EXTREME
WEST ALABAMA BEFORE 500 PM.

PERSONS IN WEST AND SOUTHWEST ALABAMA SHOULD KEEP INFORMED OF THE
LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY TO GO TO A PLACE OF SAFETY
SHOULD A WARNING BE ISSUED.
Special weather statement, Mar 20, 4:10 PM CST, 3 hours 7 minutes before
TSPECI KBHM 202210 COR
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
400 PM CST MON MAR 20 1989

        ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 41 IN EFFECT FOR
 MUCH OF SOUTHWEST ALABAMA UNTIL 900 PM CST...

THE WATCH AREA IS TO THE SOUTH AND WEST OF SUCH COUNTIES OF GREENE...
HALE AND PERRY AND EXTENDS TO THE GULF COAST. INCLUDED IN THE WATCH
AREA ARE CITIES SUCH AS LINDEN...MARION...DEMOPOLIS...GROVE HILL...
MOBILE...AND BAY MINETTE.

AT 400 PM CST A STRONG COLD FRONT OVER CENTRAL ARKANSAS AND EASTERN
TEXAS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST TOWARD ALABAMA WHILE THE STRONGEST STORMS
WERE LOCATED IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND THE SOUTHERN HALF OF
MISSISSIPPI. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING NEAR THE ALABAMA/
MISSISSIPPI LINE AT 400 PM CST. THESE WILL BEGIN TO MOVE INTO EXTREME
WEST ALABAMA BEFORE 500 PM.

PERSONS IN WEST AND SOUTHWEST ALABAMA SHOULD KEEP INFORMED OF THE
LATEST WEATHER CONDITIONS AND BE READY TO GO TO A PLACE OF SAFETY
SHOULD A WARNING BE ISSUED.
Special weather statement, Mar 20, 5:43 PM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Mar 20, 6:02 PM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 20, 6:01 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa59 min
Mar 20, 6:40 PM CSTTornado WarningBMXJefferson65 min
Mar 20, 7:04 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby56 min
Mar 20, 7:39 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega66 min
Mar 20, 8:35 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCleburne55 min
Mar 21, 2:14 AM CSTTornado WarningBMXTuscaloosa46 min
Mar 21, 2:54 AM CSTTornado WarningBMXBibb, Jefferson, Shelby66 min

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.