Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 115, NWS Mobile, AL

May 21, 1990Covington County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 1990, 2:43 PM CDT for Covington County, Alabama. It was in force for 62 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: May 21, 1990, 2:43 PM CDT (19:43 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 1990, 3:45 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Covington 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 21, 3:00 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Covington, AL
May 21, 3:10 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Covington, 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

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 197 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: 173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -336 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1194 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMGM 211947
SVRMGM
ALC039-212045-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
243 PM CDT MON MAY 21 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
 
   ...COVINGTON COUNTY
 
WEATHER RADAR SHOWS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NEAR ANDALUSIA AND SOUTHWEST
TOWARDS BREWTON MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 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.  MOTORISTSE 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

Local storm report, May 21, 9:32 AM CDT, 5 hours 11 minutes before

ATTN SELS
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
930 AM CDT MON MAY 21 1990

DELAYED STORM REPORT....

GEORGE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI CD REPORTED THAT AT 830 PM CDT SUNDAY
MAY 21ST AT THE CENTRAL :COMMUNITY 3 MILES WEST OF LUCEDALE...
TREES BLOWN DOWN...STORAGE BUILDING DESTROYED AND FENCE BLOWN DOWN.

REPORTED AS POSSIBLE TORNADO BUT LIKELY STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

Special weather statement, May 21, 1:55 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

ALZ013-015-016-MSZ014-013-212000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
155 PM CDT MON MAY 21 1990

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 294 REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR PERRY
AND GREENE COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI UNTIL 500 PM... ...SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 295 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM FOR ALL
COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA...

AT 150 PM A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED FROM NEAR
MONTGOMERY TO NEAR WHATLEY IN CLARKE COUNTY ALABAMA. THESE STORMS WERE
MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR WHA
MARBLE SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED EARLIER IN CENTRAL CLARKE COUNTY.

ANOTHER LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST THROUGH
SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. IT WAS LOCATED FROM NEAR CRANDALL TO SUMRALL TO
SOUTH OF MCCOMB. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
ELLISVILLE IN JONES COUNTY.

A WIND GUST LINE MAY STILL BE 10 TO 15 MILES AHEAD OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI. WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH WERE
REPORTED EARLIER.

PEOPLE IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD REMAIN WEATHER CONSCIOUS THIS
AFTERNOON AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS MOVE THROUGH.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 12:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Coosa	64 min
May 21, 12:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Tallapoosa	61 min
May 21, 12:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Dallas, Wilcox	63 min
May 21, 1:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Montgomery	43 min
May 21, 2:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Lee	61 min
May 21, 2:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Clarke, Washington	51 min
May 21, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Coffee	68 min
May 21, 3:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Pike	69 min
May 21, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Henry	59 min
May 21, 3:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Barbour	65 min
May 21, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	30 min
May 21, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Coffee, Covington	61 min
May 21, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Geneva, Houston	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

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.