Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 55, NWS Birmingham, AL

November 15, 1989Talladega County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Nov 15, 1989, 6:03 PM CST for Talladega County, Alabama. It was in force for 42 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 15, 1989, 6:03 PM CST (00:03 UTC)
Expired: Nov 15, 1989, 6:45 PM CST
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Talladega 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

Athens Municipal, GA (KAHN), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 273 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: 813 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 916 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 232 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 322 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.2
Supercell composite: 7.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 160005
TORBHM
ALC121-160045-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
603 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...TALLADEGA COUNTY
 
AT 602 PM A TORNADO WAS INDICATED IN WESTERN TALLADEGA COUNTY. IT WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR AND SHOULD PASS CLOSE TO THE CITY
OF TALLADEGA.
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIkBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

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

Local storm report, Nov 15, 3:28 PM CST, 2 hours 35 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
229 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

    ...UPDATED REPORT ON THE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN IN CLAY COUNTY...

...CORRECTION ON TIME...OCCURRED AT 130 PM CST...TOUCHDOWN 7IN THE
   MELLOW VALLEY COMMUNITY. PEOPLE WERE REPORTED TRAPPED IN A
   COLLAPSED HOUSE WITH SEVERAL INJURIES. IT IS NOT KNOWN OF THE
   EXTENT OF INJURIES OR THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE INJURED.

Local storm report, Nov 15, 4:04 PM CST, 1 hour 59 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
355 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

1527 REPORT OF TORNADO CROSSING COOSA RIVER TOWARD TITUS ALABAMA
     ALSO HAIL SIZE NOT DETERMINED...BY LOCAL TV STATION.
{
1535 REPORT OF HAIL MARBLE TO NICKEL SIZE AND FUNNEL CLOUD VCNTY
     OF SLAPOUT...HAIL COVERED GROUND...BY PUBLIC/DPS/LOCAL TV.

1535 REPORT OF TREES DOWN AND HAIL NEAR CLOUD IN ELMORE COUNTY
     ALABAMA...BY DPS

Local storm report, Nov 15, 4:55 PM CST, 1 hour 8 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
450 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

...AT 255 PM CST...FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED BY BEAR CREEK PD AT
   BEAR CREEK IN MARION COUNTY.
...AT 255 PM CST...FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED AT WOODLAND HIGH SCHOOL
   IN RANDOLPH COUNTY.
...AT 421 PM CST...GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AND FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED
   IN SOUTHERN RANDOLPH COUNTY.
...AT 430 PM CST...40-50 MPH WINDS REPORTED AT ALICEVILLE IN PICKENS
   COUNTY.
...AT 440 PM CST...FUNNEL CLOUND AT BACON LEVEL COMMUNITY IN
   SOUTHEASTERN RANDOLPH COUNTY.
...AT 440 PM CST...TREES DOWN ON HWY 43 5 NORTH HAMILTON.
...AT 440 PM CST...TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN IN WINSTON COUNTY
   5 NORTH HALEYVILLE.
...AT 442 PM CST...GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AND STREET FLOODING IN THE
   ROANOKE AREA OF RANDOLPH COUNTY.

Local storm report, Nov 15, 5:00 PM CST, 1 hour 3 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
450 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

...AT 440 PM CST...AT MCALLA IN JEFFERSON COUNTY...DOWNED TELEPHONE
   POLES.
...AT 443 PM CST...TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AT EITHER ROANOKE OR ROCK MILLS
   ...AT LEAST 2 MOBILE HOMES OVERTURNED AND GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL FELL.
...AT 455 PM CST...GUST NEAR 60 MPH AT WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN
   BIRMINGHAM.
...AT 455 PM CST...DIME SIZE HAIL AT LAKESHORE DRIVE IN HOMEWOOD.

Local storm report, Nov 15, 5:42 PM CST, 21 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
542 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

4:50 PM CST BARN IN THE ROAD JUST EAST OF ROCK MILLS IN RANDOLPH
            COUNTY ON HWY 22.

5:11 PM CST 50 TO 55 MPH WINDS AT TRUSSVILLE, JEFFERSON COUNTY.

5:18 PM CST POWER OUT AT SHELBY/CHILTON COUNTY LINE SOUTH OF
            CALERA IN SHELBY COUNTY.

5:20 PM CST GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL IN LEESBURG AREA IN WESTERN
            CHEROKEE COUNTY, AL.

5:25 PM CST 40 TO 50 MPH IN WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY.

5:30 PM CST PEA SIZE HAIL ON EAST SIDE OF ALABASTER, SHELBY
            COUNTY.

5:40 PM CST UTILITY LINES DOWN IN PINSON, JEFFERSON COUNTY

5:41 PM CST TREES DOWN IN BIRMINGPORT, WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY<

Local storm report, Nov 15, 5:45 PM CST, 18 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
545 PM CST WED NOV 15 1989

1630 TORNADO/TREES DOWN VCNTY CAMP HILL ALABAMA...BY LOCAL FIRE CHIEF
     THRU EMA

1645 REPORT OF TORNADO PATH OF TREES CDOWN BETWEEN BUFFALO AND LAFAYETTE
     CHAMBER COUNTY ALABAMA...BY AM. RADIO CLUB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 15, 6:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay	48 min
Nov 15, 6:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne, Randolph	55 min
Nov 15, 6:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay	33 min

Nearby

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