Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1992

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 35, NWS Mobile, AL

April 20, 1992Lowndes County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 20, 1992, 3:09 PM CDT for Lowndes County, Alabama. It was in force for 66 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 20, 1992, 3:09 PM CDT (20:09 UTC)
Expired
Apr 20, 1992, 4:15 PM CDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Lowndes County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 98 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 1992-04-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 11 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 1992-04-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 185 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-209 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
650 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMGM 202011
SVRMGM
ALC085-202115-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
309 PM CDT MON APR 20 1992
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MONTGOMERY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  415 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
 
   ...LOWNDES COUNTY
 
WEATHER RADAR AT MONTGOMERY SHOWED NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WITH STRONG
WINDS AND POSSIBLE HAIL MOVING NORTHEAST THROUGH MOST ALL OF LOWNDES
COUNTY. THESE STORMS HAVE PRODUCED DAMAGE IN BUTLER COUNTY.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIBGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS 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, Apr 20, 1:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
137 PM MON APR 20 1992

TIME             EVENT
128 PM           TORNADO REPORTED AT CARLTON IN CLARKE COUNTY ALABAMA.
                 TREES DOWN...VEHICLES DAMAGED...
                 INFORMATION SKETCHY AT THIS TIME...

140 PM           TREES DOWN REPORTED 5 MILES EAST OF FAIRHOPE ALABAMA
                 IN BALDWIN COUNTY.  REPORTED AS TORNADO BUT
                 UNCONFIRMED.
Local storm report, Apr 20, 2:03 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
202 PM MON APR 20 1992

TIME             EVENT
150 PM           BALDWIN COUNTY EMA REPORTED A MOBILE HOME UNROOFED AT
                 GULF STATE PARK NEAR GULF SHORES.
Local storm report, Apr 20, 2:18 PM CDT, 51 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
215 PM MON APR 20 1992

TIME             EVENT
145 PM           BALDWIN COUNTY EMA REPORTED POWER OUTAGE NEAR
                 SILVERHILL.

205 PM           BALDWIN COUNTY EMA REPORTED A TREE FELL ON AND
                 DAMAGED A MOBILE HOME 8 MILES EAST OF FAIRHOPE.

                 CLARKE COUNTY SO AND ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS
                 REPORTED SOME RESIDENTIAL DAMAGE NEAR CARLTON
                 WITH THE STORM REPORTED AT 140 PM.
Local storm report, Apr 20, 2:30 PM CDT, 39 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
225 PM MON APR 20 1992

UPDATE ON TORNADO AT CARLTON IN CLARKE COUNTY...

RESIDENT TOMMY HART REPORTED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO HIS HOME...
HIS PICKUP TRUCK DESTROYED...SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS DESTROYED.
NO INJURIES.  NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OFF OR UPROOTED.

HE REPORTED INKY BLACK SKIES...AND A LOUD ROAR IMMEDIATELY BEFORE
THE STORM HIT.

THE STORM PATH WAS ESTIMATED 200 YARDS WIDE AND PERHAPS A MILE LONG.

STORM REPORTED AT 128 PM.
Special weather statement, Apr 20, 2:34 PM CDT, 35 minutes before
FLZ001>004-ALZ010-013>018-MSZ012>014-202030-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENSACOLA FL
230 PM CDT MON APR 20 1992

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT FOR ALL
OF THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE...

AT 230 PM CDT...A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH HEAVY
RAIN...STRETCHED FROM MONROE COUNTY ALABAMA SOUTH THROUGH THE FLORIDA
PANHANDLE ALONG THE ESCAMBIA...SANTA ROSA COUNTY LINE THEN CONTINUED
OUT ANOTHER 100 MILES INTO THE GULF.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTAIN PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN...FREQUENT
LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLE HAIL AS THEY MOVE EAST
ACROSS THE PANHANDLE AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.  WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH
HAVE ALREADY BEEN REPORTED IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY FROM THE THUNDERSTORMS.

CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS SOURCE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND BE READY
TO MOVE TO SAFETY IF WARNINGS ARE ISSUED.
Local storm report, Apr 20, 2:57 PM CDT, 12 minutes before
LOCAL STORM REPORTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
252 PM CDT MON APR 20 1992

TIME                  EVENT
215 PM                TREES AND SOME POWER LINES DOWN IN MONROEVILLE.
                      REPORTED BY MONROEVILLE CITY POLICE AND MONROE
                      COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE AT 235 PM.

229 PM                EVERGREEN STATE POLICE OF ALABAMA RELAYED A
                      PUBLIC REPORT OF A POSSIBLE TORNADO THAT DESTROYED
                      A SMALL SHED IN SOUTHWESTERN CONECUH COUNTY JUST
                      WEST OF RANGE.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 20, 12:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMobile44 min
Apr 20, 1:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBClarke53 min
Apr 20, 1:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBMonroe45 min
Apr 20, 1:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBBaldwin26 min
Apr 20, 2:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBWilcox67 min
Apr 20, 2:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBButler63 min
Apr 20, 2:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBConecuh26 min
Apr 20, 3:21 PM CDTTornado WarningMOBLowndes, Montgomery69 min
Apr 20, 3:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBCovington69 min
Apr 20, 3:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBPike69 min
Apr 20, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBGeneva52 min
Apr 20, 4:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBElmore, Tallapoosa64 min
Apr 20, 4:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBLee, Macon59 min
Apr 20, 5:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOBChambers48 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1992Every severe thunderstorm 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.