Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 182, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 20, 1996, 6:33 PM CDT for Hale County, Alabama. It was in force for 57 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 20, 1996, 6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 20, 1996, 7:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 57 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Hale County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:35 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, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 92 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 816 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 527 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 229 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 330 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 202334 SVRBHM ALC065-210030- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 633 PM CDT SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...HALE COUNTY AT 630 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER WESTERN HALE COUNTY NEAR THE TOWN OF AKRON. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL PASS THROUGH THE STEWART AND HAVANA AREAS. WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DON'T USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
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, Apr 20, 1:04 PM CDT, 5 hours 29 minutes before
ALZ001>011-013-016-201900- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 100 PM CDT SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS CANCELLED THE LAKE WIND ADVISORY WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE NORTHERN QUARTER OF ALABAMA FOR THIS AFTERNOON. WINDS HAVE SUBSIDED ACROSS MOST OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...IN THE WAKE OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WHICH MOVED ACROSS THE AREA EARLIER IN THE DAY. AS A RESULT...THE LAKE WIND ADVISORY HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON...WINDS ACROSS THE EXTREME NORTHERN SECTION OF THE STATE WILL FOR THE MOST PART BE VARIABLE IN DIRECTION AT SPEEDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH. WHILE WINDS OVER MOST OF THE TENNESSEE VALLEY HAVE SUBSIDED... THUNDERSTORMS DO REMAIN OVER EXTREME NORTHEAST ALABAMA...AND A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS OVER THE EXTREME NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE TIL 600 PM. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BRIEFLY PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS. ALL PERSONS.h..ESPECIALLY BOATERS...IN THIS WATCH AREA SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE THREAT OF STRONG...POSSIBLY DAMAGING WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE AFTERNOON HOURS.
Special weather statement, Apr 20, 2:16 PM CDT, 4 hours 17 minutes before
ALZ011>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-202120- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 216 PM CDT (316 PM EDT) SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS CLEARED THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES FROM TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 201: LAMAR...PICKENS...SUMTER...CHOCTAW...MARENGO...HALE...GREENE... TUSCALOOSA...FAYETTE...WALKER...CULLMAN...JEFFERSON...SHELBY... BIBB...PERRY...MARSHALL...DEKALB...BLOUNT...ETOWAH...CHEROKEE... ST. CLAIR...CALHOUN...CLEBURNE...TALLADEGA...AND CLAY.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 8:09 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 8:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 8:42 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Limestone | 63 min |
| Apr 20, 8:49 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 56 min |
| Apr 20, 8:53 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jackson | 67 min |
| Apr 20, 8:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 61 min |
| Apr 20, 9:40 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Madison | 65 min |
| Apr 20, 9:47 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 58 min |
| Apr 20, 9:50 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale | 55 min |
| Apr 20, 10:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Morgan | 69 min |
| Apr 20, 10:21 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Franklin | 69 min |
| Apr 20, 10:24 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jackson | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 11:32 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Jackson | 3 hr |
| Apr 20, 11:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 27 min |
| Apr 20, 11:53 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 52 min |
| Apr 20, 12:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 45 min |
| Apr 20, 12:05 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Limestone | 115 min |
| Apr 20, 12:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens, Sumter | 54 min |
| Apr 20, 12:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 12:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 51 min |
| Apr 20, 12:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 28 min |
| Apr 20, 12:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 42 min |
| Apr 20, 12:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 54 min |
| Apr 20, 12:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale, Tuscaloosa | 44 min |
| Apr 20, 12:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Talladega | 50 min |
| Apr 20, 1:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb | 64 min |
| Apr 20, 1:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay, Cleburne | 58 min |
| Apr 20, 1:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Perry | 54 min |
| Apr 20, 4:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 38 min |
| Apr 20, 5:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Sumter | 28 min |
| Apr 20, 5:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Greene | 36 min |
| Apr 20, 5:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 60 min |
| Apr 20, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 30 min |
| Apr 20, 6:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 60 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1996Every 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.