Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 21, 1989Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 21, 1989, 6:03 PM CST for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 57 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 21, 1989, 6:03 PM CST (00:03 UTC)
Expired
Mar 21, 1989, 7:00 PM CST
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Tuscaloosa 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, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 53 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 1989-03-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1989-03-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -6 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
0 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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 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, Mar 21, 5:00 PM CST, 1 hour 3 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
457 PM CST TUE MAR 21 1989

RADAR SHOWED A LARGE AND INTENSE THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO SOUTHERN
WILCOX COUNTY AT 455 PM. THE STORM WAS ABOUT 20 MILES SOUTH OF CAMDEN
AND WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 30 MPH.

THIS STORM WILL BE PRODUCING STRONG WINDS...TORRENTIAL RAIN...EXTREMELY
HAZARDOUS LIGHTNING...AND HAIL. RESIDENTS OF EASTERN WILCOX AND
SOUTHERN LOWNDES COUNTIES SHOULD REMAIN ALERT IN ACSE THE THUNDERSTORM
PERSISTE AND WARNINGS ARE REQUIRED.

ELSEWHERE...A STRONG THNDERSTORM WAS OVER EXTREME WESTERN DALLAS
COUHTY SOUTHWEST OF MARION JUNCTION...ALSO MOVING NORTHEAST. A FEW
HEAVY SHOWERS WERE MOVING INTO COVINGTON COUNTY SOUTHWEST OF ANDALUSIA.

DEVAUGHN
Special weather statement, Mar 21, 6:02 PM CST, 1 minute before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
600 PM CST TUE MAR 21 1989

RADAR AT MONTGOMERY SHOWED A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER
LOWNDES COUNTY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA AT 555 PM. THE MOST INTENSE STORMS
WERE BETWEEN LETOHATCHEE AND JONES BLUFF AND WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT
AROUND 30 MPH.

THE STORMS WILL BE MOVING ACROSS THE AUTAUGAVILLE...MONTGOMERY...AND
PRATTVILLE AREAS BETWEEN 630 AND 7PM AND WILL BE PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY
WINDS...EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...BLINDING RAIN...AND POSSIBLY
SOME HAIL.

DEVAUGHN

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes 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.