Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1995

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 421, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 8, 1995Blount County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 1995, 4:31 PM CDT for Blount County, Alabama. It was in force for 44 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 8, 1995, 4:31 PM CDT (21:31 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 1995, 5:15 PM CDT
In force
44 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Blount County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:34 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 91 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1995-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1401 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1995-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 49 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
1401 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
650 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 KBHM 082138 COR
SVRBHM
ALC009-082215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
431 PM CDT TUE AUG 8 1995

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH ALABAMA

   ...BLOUNT COUNTY

AT 430 PM CDT...A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHERN CULLMAN
COUNTY WILL MOVE INTO BLOUNT COUNTY ALONG A LINE FROM HAYDEN TO
BLOUNTSVILLE BY 445 PM...AND WILL AFFECT ONEONTA AND REMLAP AREAS BY 500
PM. MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

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, Aug 8, 1:28 PM CDT, 3 hours 3 minutes before
ALZ036>038-040>050-057-058-060-065>069-082030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
128 PM CDT TUE AUG 8 1995

AT 1:20 PM CDT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MONTGOMERY
INDICATED RAINSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN SOUTH CENTRAL
ALABAMA. THE STRONGEST OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN
AUTAUGA...ELMORE...BUTLER...MONTGOMERY...MACON..AND LOWNDES
COUNTIES.  THIS AREA OF RAINSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO
THE SOUTH AT 15-20 MILES PER HOUR.

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.
Special weather statement, Aug 8, 3:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before
ALZ036>038-040>050-057-058-060-065>069-082225-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
323 PM CDT TUE AUG 8 1995

AT 3:20 PM CDT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MONTGOMERY
INDICATED RAINSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN SOUTH
CENTRAL ALABAMA. THE STRONGEST OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN
AUTAUGA...LOWNDES...BUTLER...AND CRENSHAW COUNTIES.  A LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND FROM CENTRAL COOSA COUNTY SOUTHWARD THROUGH ELMORE
COUNTY INTO EASTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. THE RAINSHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE SOUTH AT 15-20 MILES PER HOUR.
Special weather statement, Aug 8, 3:24 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before
ALZ036>038-040>050-057-058-060-065>069-082225-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
323 PM CDT TUE AUG 8 1995

AT 3:20 PM CDT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MONTGOMERY
INDICATED RAINSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN SOUTH
CENTRAL ALABAMA. THE STRONGEST OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN
AUTAUGA...LOWNDES...BUTLER...AND CRENSHAW COUNTIES.  A LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS EXTEND FROM CENTRAL COOSA COUNTY SOUTHWARD THROUGH ELMORE
COUNTY INTO EASTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY. THE RAINSHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TO THE SOUTH AT 15-20 MILES PER HOUR.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 8, 2:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLauderdale62 min
Aug 8, 2:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXColbert65 min
Aug 8, 2:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLimestone69 min
Aug 8, 3:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarion63 min
Aug 8, 3:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXWinston59 min
Aug 8, 3:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMorgan56 min
Aug 8, 3:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXSt. Clair53 min
Aug 8, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega66 min
Aug 8, 3:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXShelby68 min
Aug 8, 3:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCullman62 min
Aug 8, 3:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarshall61 min
Aug 8, 4:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1995Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.