Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 151, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 14, 1996Calhoun County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 14, 1996, 8:36 PM CDT for Calhoun County, Alabama. It was in force for 54 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 14, 1996, 8:36 PM CDT (01:36 UTC)
Expired: Apr 14, 1996, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Calhoun County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:37 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 00:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 110 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: 915 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 150138
SVRBHM
ALC015-029-111-150230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
836 PM CDT SUN APR 14 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...CALHOUN COUNTY...CLEBURNE COUNTY...RANDOLPH COUNTY
 
AT 835 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR CONTINUE TO SHOW A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING OVER THE WEST PARTS OF CALHOUN...CLEBURNE... AND
RANDOLPH COUNTIES. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH AND
WILL AFFECT THE JACKSONVILLE...ANNISTON...OXFORD...HEFLIN...WEDOWEE AND
ROANOKE AREAS.
 
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

Local storm report, Apr 14, 8:10 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA
810 PM CDT SUN APR 14 1996

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

0527 PM    EUTAW                     AL   .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/96   GREENE

0539 PM    PICKENSVILLE              AL   TORNADO
04/14/96   PICKENS                        REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

0615 PM    ALICEVILLE                AL   POSSIBLE TORNADO
04/14/96   PICKENS                        HEAVY STRUCTURAL DAMGE
                                          TO HOUSES AND NURSING
                                          HOMES.

0640 PM    HOLT JCT                  AL   .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/96   TUSCALOOSA

0645 PM    BRIERFIELD                AL   .75 INCH HAIL
04/14/96   BIBB

0710 PM    CONCORD                   AL   60 MPH TSTM GUST
04/14/96   JEFFERSON                      LARGE TREE DOWNED

0721 PM    BIRMINGHAM                AL   60 MPH TSTM GUST
04/14/96   JEFFERSON                      60+ WIND GUST.  METAL BLEW
                                          OFF BUILDING

0721 PM    HOOVER                    AL   WIND DAMAGE
04/14/96   JEFFERSON                      POWER LINES DOWN

0730 PM    BIRMINGHAM                AL   67 MPH TSTM GUST
04/14/96   JEFFERSON                      REPORT FROM WBRC
                                          TELEVISION STATION.

0730 PM    BIRMINGHAM ARPT           AL   58 MPH TSTM GUST
04/14/96   JEFFERSON                      REPORT FROM BHM OBSERVER.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 14, 7:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore, Montgomery	38 min
Apr 14, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	27 min
Apr 14, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa, Tallapoosa	64 min
Apr 14, 8:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Macon	40 min
Apr 14, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay, Talladega	44 min
Apr 14, 8:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	47 min
Apr 14, 8:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne, Randolph	54 min
Apr 14, 8:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour, Bullock, Russell	42 min
Apr 14, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	37 min
Apr 14, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers, Lee	36 min
Apr 14, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	29 min
Apr 15, 12:12 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	48 min
Apr 15, 12:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin, Lawrence	55 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.