Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1992

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 15, 1992Etowah County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Apr 15, 1992, 6:03 PM CDT for Etowah County, Alabama. It was in force for 117 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 15, 1992, 6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired
Apr 15, 1992, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
117 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Etowah County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 167 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 1992-04-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 356 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1992-04-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -6 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
356 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-57 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
797 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
31 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 KBHM 152303
FFWBHM
ALC055-160100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
603 PM CDT WED APR 15 1992
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...WESTERN ETOWAH COUNTY
 
CONTINUOUS THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN OF WESTERN ETOWAH
COUNTY OVER THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS HAVE PRODUCED HEAVY RAIN. THE MAIN
AREA OF THE HEAVY RAIN WAS BETWEEN THE TOWNS OF GALLANT AND ALTOONA.
FLOODING IS LIKELY IN THE VALLEYS AND SMALL STREAMS SUCH AS POLE CREEK
AND CLEAR CREEK IN THE WESTERN ETOWAH COUNTY AREA.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, Apr 15, 2:39 PM CDT, 3 hours 24 minutes before
ALZ004>007-142045-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
239 PM CDT WED APR 15 1992

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT CENTREVILLE/BRENT INDICATED WIDELY
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN A COUPLE SPOTS OF NORTH AND CENTRAL ALABAMA
THIS AFTERNOONA. ONE THUNDERSTORM...LOCATED NEAR THE CITY OF GADSDEN
...PRODUCED PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH.

RADAR AT 235 PM INDICATED THAT THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE WEAKENING...BUT
MORE WIDELY SCATTERED STORMS MAY DEVELOP AS CONDITIONS CONTINUE TO HEAT
UP THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON.

SINCE THE AFTERNOON HEAT WAS A KEY INGREDIENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THESE
STORMS...THEY WILL DIE OFF COMPLETELY LATER THIS EVENING...AFTER THE SUN
GOES DOWN.
Special weather statement, Apr 15, 5:14 PM CDT, 49 minutes before
ALZ004>007-142130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
510 PM CDT WED APR 15 1992

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WERE CONTINUING ACROSS PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL
ALABAMA THIS AFTERNOON.

AT 510 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
OCCURRING OVER PORTIONS EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA.  THE STRONGEST
THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN WESTERN ETOWAH COUNTY...WEST OF GADSDEN AND
NORTHERN CLEBURNE COUNTY...EAST OF JACKSONVILLE.  THESE STORMS WERE
NEARLY STATIONARY.

WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS REMAINING NEARLY STATIONARY SOME LOCALIZED
STREET FLOODING AND MINOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS WILL BE POSSIBLE.
IN ADDITION...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...AND HAIL ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.  THE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH DURING THE EVENING HOURS AS TEMPERATURES
DECLINE.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 1992Every flash flood warning in 1992

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.