Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 116, NWS Mobile, AL

May 21, 1990Coffee County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 1990, 2:52 PM CDT for Coffee County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 21, 1990, 2:52 PM CDT (19:52 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 1990, 4:00 PM CDT
In force
68 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Coffee 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 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 202 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 12:00Z on 1990-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 173 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 12:00Z on 1990-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 141 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
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 211956
SVRMGM
ALC031-212100-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
252 PM CDT MON MAY 21 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
 
   ...COFFEE COUNTY
 
AT 250 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO WESTERN
COFFEE COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDUOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 20 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, 57 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 SOUTHEAST 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 12:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCoosa64 min
May 21, 12:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBTallapoosa61 min
May 21, 12:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBDallas, Wilcox63 min
May 21, 1:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMontgomery43 min
May 21, 2:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBLee61 min
May 21, 2:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke, Washington51 min
May 21, 2:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCovington62 min
May 21, 3:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBPike69 min
May 21, 3:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBHenry59 min
May 21, 3:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBarbour65 min
May 21, 4:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBEscambia30 min
May 21, 4:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCoffee, Covington61 min
May 21, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBGeneva, Houston63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1990Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.