Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 84, NWS Mobile, AL

June 15, 1989Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 15, 1989, 4:36 AM CDT for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 39 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jun 15, 1989, 4:36 AM CDT (09:36 UTC)
Expired
Jun 15, 1989, 5:15 AM CDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Baldwin County, AL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 15, 4:50 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 0Baldwin, AL
Jun 15, 4:50 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 55Baldwin, AL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 192 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 1989-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 1989-06-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -35 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 150938
SVRMOB
ALC003-151015-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
436 AM CDT THU JUN 15 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
          ...CENTRAL BALDWIN
 
AT 433 AM MOBILE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF LOXLEY ALABAMA MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
 
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, Jun 14, 10:36 PM CDT, 6 hours before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
1035 PM CDT WED JUN 14 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR
ESCAMBIA...SANTA ROSA...OKALOOSA...WALTON...AND HOLMES COUNTIES AND
THE FOREMENTIONED WITH COASTAL WATERS.

AT 1030 PM...A NARROW LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM MONTGOMERY
TO GULF SHORES ALABAMA AND ON TO THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

MOVEMENT OF THE LINE WAS TO THE EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.
Special weather statement, Jun 14, 11:38 PM CDT, 4 hours 58 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
1135 PM CDT WED JUN 14 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR
ESCAMBIA...SANTA ROSA...OKALOOSA...WALTON...AND HOLMES COUNTIES AND
THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.

AT 1130 PM...NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN A LINE FROM NEAR MONTGOMERY
ALABAMA TO NEAR PENSACOLA AND ON SOUTHWEST OVER THE GULF. THE LINE
WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AROUND 15 MILES AN HOUR.

THUNDERSTORMS IN THE LINE WERE INDICATING VERY HEAVY RAIN...WITH GUSTY
WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING.

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED IN ADVANCE OF THE LINE IN OKALOOSA
AND WALTON COUNTIES. HEAVY RAIN WAS ALSO INDICATED WITH THESE STORMS.,

THE INDIVIDUAL THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 30 MILES
AN HOUR.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 15, 7:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBaldwin55 min
Jun 15, 11:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBarbour40 min
Jun 15, 5:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHouston45 min
Jun 15, 6:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBaldwin55 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.