Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Mobile, AL

March 21, 1989Elmore County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 21, 1989, 5:11 AM CST for Elmore County, Alabama. It was in force for 64 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 21, 1989, 5:11 AM CST (11:11 UTC)
Expired
Mar 21, 1989, 6:15 AM CST
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Elmore 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, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 104 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KMGM 211114
SVRMGM
ALC051-211215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
511 AM CST TUE MAR 21 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
          ...ELMORE
 
MONTGOMERY'S WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM APPROACHING
WETUMPKA FROM THE WEST. THE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 35
MILES AN HOUR. THIS THUNDERSTORM HAS PARTICULARLY STRONG WINDS.
 
 
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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 21, 3:57 AM CST, 1 hour 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
400 AM CST TUE MAR 21 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS INCREASING OVER SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHWEST
ALABAMA...

THE MOBILE RADAR AT 355 AM SHOWED THAT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE
INCREASING ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND SOUTHWEST ALABAMA.  A STRONG
THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 15 MILES WEST OF THE MOBILE AIRPORT.  OTHER
STORMS WERE MOVING ACROSS WASHINGTON...CLARKE AND CONECUH COUNTIES OF
ALABAMA.  THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT 30 MPH.

FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS RESIDENTS OF SOUTHWEST ALABAMA AND SOUTHEAST
MISSISSIPPI CAN EXPECT STRONG GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...HEAVY
RAINFALL AND POSSIBLY SOME HAIbL AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE MOVING
TOWARD THE EAST.
Special weather statement, Mar 21, 4:43 AM CST, 28 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
445 AM CST TUE MAR 21 1989

AT 430 AM CST...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED RAPIDLY OVER
THE WESTERN END OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE AND IN THE PENSACOLA AREA.

OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING...OCCASIONALLY IN LINES...OVER
MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA.

THE LARGER THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF VERY HEAVY RAIN... STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND SMALL HAIL.

THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRESENTLY LOCATED NEAR MILTON
FLORIDA AT THE NAVAL AIR STATION...AND NEAR MOBILE IN ALABAMA.

MOVEMENTS WERE TOWARD THE EAST 30 MILES AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 20, 6:36 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBDallas69 min
Mar 20, 7:34 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCoosa56 min
Mar 20, 7:34 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBAutauga56 min
Mar 20, 8:16 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMontgomery59 min
Mar 20, 9:18 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCovington57 min
Mar 21, 4:20 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile40 min
Mar 21, 6:35 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBarbour, Pike55 min
Mar 21, 7:37 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBarbour68 min
Mar 21, 8:04 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHenry, Houston56 min
Mar 21, 8:24 AM CSTTornado WarningMOBDale42 min
Mar 21, 9:15 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHouston50 min
Mar 21, 10:48 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile42 min
Mar 21, 1:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile45 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.