Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1995

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 424, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 20, 1995Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 1995, 1:50 PM CDT for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 40 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 20, 1995, 1:50 PM CDT (18:50 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 1995, 2:30 PM CDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Tuscaloosa County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:50 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 70 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 636 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -174 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 715 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: 17 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 201852 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC125-201930-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
150 PM CDT SUN AUG 20 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...TUSCALOOSA COUNTY
 
AT 150 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWS A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM OVER TUSCALOOSA COUNTY JUST SOUTH OF WINDHAM SPRINGS. THE
STORM WAS MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MILES AN HOUR AND SHOULD AFFECT THE
TUSCALOOSA...PETERSON...AND BROOKWOOD AREAS AROUND 215 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING 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, Aug 20, 1:30 PM CDT, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
130 PM CDT SUN AUG 20 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 PM CDT DILRALDA SHOOL         AL     TREES BLOWN DOWN REPORTED BY
8/19/95     MONTGOMERY                    SHERIFF OFFICE.  SEVERE WARNING
                                          FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN EFFECT.

1100 PM CDT HIGH POINT ROAD        AL     PEASIZE HAIL REPORTED BY NWS
8/19/95     MONTGOMERY                    PERSON.  SEVER THUNDERSTORM
                                          WARNING IN EFFECT.

1050 PM CDT NEAR WETUMPKA          AL     POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN AND TREES
8/19/95     ELMORE                        BLOWN DOWN ON TWO HOUSES REPORTED
                                          BY WETUMPKA POLICE.  SEVERE
                                          THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN EFFECT.
1115 PM CDT PRATTVILLE             AL     POWER LINES DOWN AND TREES BLOWN
8/19/95     AUTAUGA                       DOWN REPORTED BY PRATVILLE POLICE
                                          DEPARTMENT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
                                          WARNING IN EFFECT.

Local storm report, Aug 20, 1:31 PM CDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
130 PM CDT SUN AUG 20 1995

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 PM CDT DILRALDA SHOOL         AL     TREES BLOWN DOWN REPORTED BY
8/19/95     MONTGOMERY                    SHERIFF OFFICE.  SEVERE WARNING
                                          FOR THUNDERSTORMS IN EFFECT.

1100 PM CDT HIGH POINT ROAD        AL     PEASIZE HAIL REPORTED BY NWS
8/19/95     MONTGOMERY                    PERSON.  SEVER THUNDERSTORM
                                          WARNING IN EFFECT.

1050 PM CDT NEAR WETUMPKA          AL     POWER LINES BLOWN DOWN AND TREES
8/19/95     ELMORE                        BLOWN DOWN ON TWO HOUSES REPORTED
                                          BY WETUMPKA POLICE.  SEVERE
                                          THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN EFFECT.
1115 PM CDT PRATTVILLE             AL     POWER LINES DOWN AND TREES BLOWN
8/19/95     AUTAUGA                       DOWN REPORTED BY PRATVILLE POLICE
                                          DEPARTMENT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
                                          WARNING IN EFFECbT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 19, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Randolph	53 min
Aug 20, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone	26 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1995 Every 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.