Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 57, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 18, 1995Madison County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1995, 5:42 PM CDT for Madison County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 1995, 5:42 PM CDT (22:42 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1995, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Madison County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 1151 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 674 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 189 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 4.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHSV 182241
TORHSV
ALC089-182345-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
542 PM CDT THU MAY 18 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...MADISON COUNTY
 
AT 535 PM CDT RADAR AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HUNSVILLE
INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER WESTERN LIMESTONE COUNTY NEAR
ELKMONT.
 
THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE EAST AT AROUND 40 MILES PER HOUR.
...POSSIBLE FUNNEL CLOUDS SITED NORTH OF ATHENS IN LIMESTONE COUNTY.
THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED A TORNADO WEST OF THE MUSCLE SHOALS AIRPORT AT
AROUND 445 PM CDT.  ROOF DAMAGE TO RESIDENTIAL AREA...TREES DOWN IN
MUSCLE SHOALS WITH POWER OUTAGES.
 
...THE TORNADO WARNINGS FOR LAUDERDALE...LAWERENCE...AND COLBERT COUNTIEHAVE BEEN CANCELLED...
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
 
R 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert	64 min
May 18, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin	39 min
May 18, 4:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lauderdale	60 min
May 18, 4:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert	64 min
May 18, 5:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone	65 min
May 18, 5:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Limestone	47 min
May 18, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	43 min
May 18, 5:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin	55 min
May 18, 5:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	51 min
May 18, 6:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Greene, Marengo	66 min
May 18, 6:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale	64 min
May 18, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Hale	69 min
May 18, 6:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence	57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1995 Every tornado warning in 1995 Tornadoes 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.