Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 101, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 16, 1996Elmore County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 16, 1996, 4:29 PM CST for Elmore County, Alabama. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Mar 16, 1996, 4:29 PM CST (22:29 UTC)
Expired: Mar 16, 1996, 5:00 PM CST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Elmore County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 16, 4:35 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Wetumpka, AL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 88 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: 195 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -62 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS1 KBHM 162230 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC051-162300-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
429 PM CST SAT MAR 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...ELMORE COUNTY
 
AT 427 PM CST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED OVER CENTRAL ELMORE
COUNTY ABOUT 5 MILES NORTH OF WETUMPKA. THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE
ECLECTIC AREA AROUND 440 PM...AND LAKE MARTIN AREA OVER THE NORTHEASTERN
CORNER OF THE COUNTY BY 450 PM.
 
MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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, Mar 16, 1:25 PM CST, 3 hours 4 minutes before

ALZ011>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-162030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
125 PM CST (225 PM EST) SAT MAR 16 1996

AT 120 PM CST WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED STRONG STORMS EXTENDING
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM RANDOLPH COUNTY...TO COOSA COUNTY...AND INTO
DALLAS COUNTY.  REPORTS OF GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL WERE REPORTED IN LOWNDES
COUNTY NEAR PINTLALA.   QUARTER SIZE HAIL WAS ALSO REPORTED IN LEE
COUNTY NEAR SALEM.

ANOTHER LINE OF SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS WAS DEVELOPING FROM
WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY...NORTHEASTWARD INTO MARSHAL COUNTY.  THE
STORMS WILL BE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 TO 40 MPH AS THE DAY
PROGRESS.  GUSTY WINDS...HAIL...HEAVY RAINS...AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY
BE ENCOUNTERED WITH ANY OF THESE STORMS.  THIS STORM ACTIVIY WILL
CONTINUE INTO THIS AFTERNOON.  PERSONS IN ALL OF ALABAMA AND WEST
CENTRAL GEORGIA SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATING WEATHER
CONDITIONS AS THE DAY PROGRESSES.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 6:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	55 min
Mar 15, 6:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lauderdale	66 min
Mar 15, 6:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone	69 min
Mar 16, 12:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	42 min
Mar 16, 12:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	46 min
Mar 16, 12:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	51 min
Mar 16, 1:34 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	DeKalb	56 min
Mar 16, 2:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	25 min
Mar 16, 3:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga	51 min
Mar 16, 5:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	15 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.