Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 143, NWS Mobile, AL

July 8, 1990Coffee County, Geneva County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 8, 1990, 4:17 PM CDT for Coffee County, Geneva County, Alabama. It was in force for 58 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
Jul 8, 1990, 4:17 PM CDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired
Jul 8, 1990, 5:15 PM CDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Coffee County, AL, Geneva 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
Jul 8, 4:30 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 0Coffee, AL
Jul 8, 4:45 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 0Geneva, 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

Apalachicola Mun, FL (KAQQ), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 190 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, Apalachicola Mun, FL at 12:00Z on 1990-07-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Apalachicola Mun, FL at 12:00Z on 1990-07-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -7 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMGM 082119
SVRMGM
ALC031-061-082215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
417 PM CDT SUN JUL 8 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
 
   ...COFFEE COUNTY...GENEVA COUNTY
 
WEATHER RADAR AT DANNELLY FIELD MONTGOMERY HAS INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF SAMSON. VERY STRONG GUSTY
WINDS ARE EXPECTED. THE THUNDERSTORM IS SHOWING LITTLE MOVEMENT.
 
 
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, Jul 8, 2:41 PM CDT, 1 hour 36 minutes before
FLZ001>004-082035-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
235 PM CDT SUN JUL 8 1990

...VERY LARGE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER NORTHERN ESCAMIBA...SANTA ROSA...
AND OKALOOSA COUNTIES OF FLORIDA AND ADJACENT PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL
ALABAMA...   THESE LARGE STORMS WILL PRODUCE FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES
AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS...ALONG WITH HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND SOME HAIL.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER SOUTHTEAST MISSISSIPPI...SOUTH
ALABAMA...AND ALSO THE CENTRAL FLORIDA PANHANDLE.

MOVEMENT OF ALL STORMS WAS VERY SLOWLY TO THE WEST.
Special weather statement, Jul 8, 2:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before
ALZ016-ALZ015-ALZ013-MSZ013-MSZ014-082045-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
245 PM CDT SUN JUL 8 1990

...WHO SET THE THERMOSTAT SO HIGH...

WHEN THE TEMPERATURE REACHED THE UPPER 90S THIS AFTERNOON NATURES
AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM STARTED UP IN THE FORM OF RAPIDLY DEVELOPING
THUNDERSTORMS BRINGING RELEIF FROM THE HEAT TO MANY AREAS.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE A NATURAL AFTERNOON OCCURRENCE ALONG THE GULF COAST
AND DO BRING RELIEF FROM THE HEAT...BUT THEY CAN BE DANGEROUS...DUE
PRIMARILY TO THE LIGHTNING THEY PRODUCE...THEY MAY ALSO PRODUCE STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...HEVY DOWN POURS...AND SMALL HAIL.

AT 240 PM CDT THE MOBILE RADAR SHOWED CLUSTERS OF THUNDERSTORMS MOSTLY
SOUVTH OF A BATON ROUGE LOUISIANA TO MONTGOMERY ALABAMA LINE AND NORTH
OF INTERSTATE 10. THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE SOUTHWEST AROUND 10 MPH.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 8, 6:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBarbour50 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.