Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 26, 19965 counties in Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jan 26, 1996, 4:16 PM CST for 5 counties in Alabama. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jan 26, 1996, 4:16 PM CST (22:16 UTC)
Expired
Jan 26, 1996, 8:15 PM CST
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Blount County, AL, Cullman County, AL, Etowah County, AL, St. Clair County, AL, Walker County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:16 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 85 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 1996-01-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-01-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 256 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
653 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
256 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
464 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 262217
FFWBHM
ALC115-127-009-043-055-125-270215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
416 PM CST FRI JAN 26 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...ST. CLAIR COUNTY...WALKER COUNTY
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...BLOUNT COUNTY...CULLMAN COUNTY...ETOWAH COUNTY
 
IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...TUSCALOOSA COUNTY
 
AT 420 PM CST...DOPPLER RADARS CONTINUED TO INDICATE WIDESPREAD RAIN AND
EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHERN
ALABAMA. RADAR RAINFALL ESTIMATES INDICATE 2 TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE
FALLEN TODAY FROM TUSCALLOOSA COUNTY TO ETOWAH COUNTY.
 
WIDESPREAD REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED OF FLASH FLOODING IN THIS AREA...
AND HEAVY RAINS ARE EXPECTED TO LAST WELL INTO THE EVENING.
 
 
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO  AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 26, 4:01 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDallas44 min
Jan 26, 4:07 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXJefferson4 hr
Jan 26, 4:16 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningBMXTuscaloosa4 hr
Jan 26, 5:39 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXElmore36 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 1996Every flash flood warning in 1996

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.