Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1992

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 21, 1992St. Clair County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Aug 21, 1992, 11:43 AM CDT for St. Clair County, Alabama. It was in force for 107 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 21, 1992, 11:43 AM CDT (16:43 UTC)
Expired
Aug 21, 1992, 1:30 PM CDT
In force
107 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County St. Clair County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 12:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 122 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 1992-08-21Temperature 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, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1992-08-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 34 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 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 211644
FFWBHM
ALC115-211830-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1143 AM CDT FRI AUG 21 1992
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  130 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...ST.CLAIR COUNTY
 
CONTINUOUS RAIN DURING THE MORNING HAS DROPPED NEARLY TWO INCHES OF RAIN
OVER MUCH OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.  ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED
ALONG THE ST. CLAIR AND TALLADEGA COUNTY LINE.  THESE SLOW MOVING STORMS
SHOULD MOVE NORTH INTO ST. CLAIR COUNTY DURING THE NEXT HOUR. THE ADDED
RAIN SHOULD AGGRAVATE THE FLOODING POTENTIAL OVER THE COUNTY.
 
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, Aug 21, 10:30 AM CDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before
ALZ004>009-011-211630

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1030 AM CDT FRI AUG 21 1992

AT 1027 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED WIDESPREAD
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ALABAMA.  THE HEAVIEST
RAIN WAS OCCURRING OVER JEFFERSON AND ST. CLAIR COUNTIES.  THUNDERSTORMS
OVER NORTHERN AND WESTERN PARTS OF THE BIRMINGHAM METRO AREA WERE PRODUCING
SOME STREET FLOODING.  MOVEMENT OF THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS
NORTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.  HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE DURING THE
REMAINDER OF THE MORNING HOWEVER...THEY WILL SHIFT NORTHWARD INTO THE
NORTHERN THIRD OF ALABAMA DURING THE AFTERNOON.

IN ADDITION TO DROPPING HEAVY RAIN>...THESE STORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
BRIEF GUSTY WIND AND LIGHTNING.  STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR THE
MEDIA FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS.

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.