Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 66, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 22, 1989Madison County, Morgan County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 22, 1989, 11:19 PM CDT for Madison County, Morgan County, Alabama. It was in force for 56 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 22, 1989, 11:19 PM CDT (04:19 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1989, 12:15 AM CDT
In force
56 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Madison County, AL, Morgan 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, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 169 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1989-05-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 493 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1989-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 171 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
493 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1270 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
245 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.7

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, May 22, 6:06 PM CDT, 5 hours 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
605 PM CDT MON MAY 22 1989

AT 600 PM CDT MONTGOMERY WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS
CONTINUING OVER SOUTH ALABAMA FROM SOUTHERN PERRY COUNTY IN WEST-
CENTRAL ALABAMA TO SELMA...TO NEAR FT DEPOSIT AND SOUTH INTO BUTLER AND
CRENSHAW COUNTIES. THE BAND EXTENDED INTO NORTHWEST FLORIDA. ISLOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER DALE AND NORTHERN HOUSTON COUNTIES. MOVEMENT
WAS NORTHEAST AT 25 TO 30 MILES AN HOUR AND THE STORMS WILL BE
APPROACHING WEST MONTGOMERY WITHIN THE HOUR.

HEAVY DOWNPOURS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLY SOME
HAIL WILL ACCOMPANY THE STORMS. PERSONS IN SOUTH ALABAMA SHOULD RAMAInN
ALERT TO THE WEATHER CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE EVENING AND LISTEN TO
NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER WEATHER INFORMATION.

RAGLAND
Special weather statement, May 22, 6:38 PM CDT, 4 hours 41 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
635 PM CDT MON MAY 22 1989

SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED LATE THIS AFTERNOON OVER
CENTRAL ALABAMA. AT 635 PM CDT...THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WERE
LOCATED IN EXTREME SOUTHERN CULLMAN COUNTY...SOUTHERN TALLADEGA
COUNTY NEAR SYLACAUGA...AND GREENE COUNTY NORTHEAST OF BOLIGEE.
THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MILES AN
HOUR.

THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE HEAVY DOWNPOURS...GUSTY WINDS...
FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLY SOME HAIL. RADAR DOES INDICATE
THE PRESENCE OF HAIL IN THE STORM LOCATED OVER SOUTHERN CULLMAN
COUNTY.

MOIST UNSTABLE AIR OVER THE STATE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING A THREAT OF
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE STATE. SINCE SOME STORMS COULD BECOME
SEVERE TONIGHT...PEOPLE SHOULD STAY ABREAST OF THE LATEST WEATHER
INFORMATION.
Special weather statement, May 22, 6:44 PM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
644 PM CDT MON MAY 22 1989

AT 640 PM CDT MONTGOMERY WEATHER RADAR SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS OVER
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ALABAMA IN A BAND FROM AUTAUGA COUNTY
SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE CITY OF MONTGOMERY INTO PIKE...DALE AND HENRY
COUNTIES. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT AROUND
30 MILES AN HOUR.

HEAVY DOWNPOURS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLY SOME
HAIL WILL ACCOMPANY THE STORMS. PERSONS IN SOUTH ALABAMA SHOULD RAMAIN
ALERT TO THE WEATHER CONDITIONS THROUGHOUT THE EVENING AND LISTEN TO
NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER WEATHER INFORMATION.

RAGLAND
Special weather statement, May 22, 8:28 PM CDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 22, 8:34 PM CDT, 2 hours 45 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 22, 10:48 PM CDT, 31 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 7:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXBibb, Tuscaloosa53 min
May 22, 8:14 PM CDTTornado WarningBMXLauderdale61 min
May 23, 11:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPerry46 min
May 23, 12:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarengo40 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.