Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 62, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 18, 1995Lauderdale County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1995, 7:28 PM CDT for Lauderdale County, Alabama. It was in force for 62 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 1995, 7:28 PM CDT (00:28 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1995, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Lauderdale County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 1185 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 371 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 460 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.0
Supercell composite: 17.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHSV 190028
TORHSV
ALC077-190130-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
728 PM CDT THU MAY 18 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...LAUDERDALE COUNTY
 
AT 720 PM CDT RADAR AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE AT HUNTSVILLE
INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN LAUDERDALE COUNTY NEAR FLORENCE.
SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD WITH THIS STORM 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
FLORENCE NEAR MCGEE TOWN.
 
THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT AROUND 40 MILES PER HOUR.
 
...TORNADO WARNINGS HAVE EXPIRED FOR COLBERT AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES IN
NORTH ALABAMA...
 
...TORNADO WARNINGS REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL 745 PM CDT FOR LAWRENCE
COUNTY...
 
 
 
 
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.
 
 
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, May 18, 7:05 PM CDT, 23 minutes before

ALZ040-041-190105-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MONTGOMERY AL
705 PM CDT THU MAY 18 1995

AT 6 PM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN MONTGOMERY INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM EMBEDDED WITHIN AN AREA OF RAINSHOWERS.  THIS THUNDERSTORM
WAS LOCATED IN EASTERN HALE COUNTY AND WESTERN PERRY COUNTY MOVING TO
THE EAST AT 40 MPH.  EXPECT THE THUNDERSTORM TO MOVE INTO NORTHERN
DALLAS COUNTY AND WESTERN AUTAUGA COUNTY WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR.

STRONG GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.  MOTORISTS
SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR SUDDEN REDUCTIONS IN VISIBILITY IN AREAS
OF HEAVY RAIN. YOU SHOULD WATCH FOR PONDING ON AREA ROADWAYS AND
BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE HYDROPLANING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	44 min
May 18, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone, Morgan	57 min
May 18, 8:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence	51 min
May 18, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	29 min
May 18, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	52 min
May 18, 9:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Sumter	33 min
May 18, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	58 min
May 18, 10:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison, Morgan	61 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.