Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 50, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 6, 1996Colbert County, Lawrence County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 6, 1996, 12:54 PM CST for Colbert County, Lawrence County, Alabama. It was in force for 66 min. 3 reports 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 6, 1996, 12:54 PM CST (18:54 UTC)
Expired: Mar 6, 1996, 2:00 PM CST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Colbert County, AL, Lawrence County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:53 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Mar 6, 1:15 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Tuscumbia, AL
Mar 6, 1:18 PM CST	Hail 1	Muscle Shoals, AL
Mar 6, 1:20 PM CST	Hail 1	Leighton, 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, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 175 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: 168 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 561 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 320 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 332 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 6, 6:57 AM CST, 5 hours 57 minutes before

ALZ025-027>029-033>038-040-054-055-061400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
657 AM CST WED MAR 6 1996

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 56 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES...SHELBY...TALLADEGA...CLAY...RANDOLPH...BIBB...CHILTON...
COOSA...TALLAPOOSA...CHAMBERS...PERRY...DALLAS...WILCOX...AND MONROE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 5, 6:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	54 min
Mar 5, 9:04 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	41 min
Mar 5, 9:34 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	41 min
Mar 5, 9:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin, Lawrence	60 min
Mar 5, 10:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Morgan	69 min
Mar 6, 12:56 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence	64 min
Mar 6, 1:26 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale	3 hr
Mar 6, 2:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Sumter	45 min
Mar 6, 3:44 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Perry	31 min
Mar 6, 3:52 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	53 min
Mar 6, 3:59 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	46 min
Mar 6, 4:12 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Autauga	48 min
Mar 6, 4:19 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lowndes	41 min
Mar 6, 4:58 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lowndes	47 min
Mar 6, 5:03 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	57 min
Mar 6, 5:11 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Montgomery	49 min
Mar 6, 5:27 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Bullock, Macon	63 min
Mar 6, 5:51 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lee, Russell	69 min
Mar 6, 6:37 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour, Bullock	38 min
Mar 6, 7:31 AM CST	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Jefferson	3 hr
Mar 6, 8:50 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Barbour	40 min
Mar 6, 1:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence	66 min
Mar 6, 2:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette, Walker	50 min
Mar 6, 2:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	53 min
Mar 6, 2:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson	38 min
Mar 6, 3:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson	46 min
Mar 6, 3:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	41 min
Mar 6, 3:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	St. Clair	49 min
Mar 6, 4:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Talladega	34 min
Mar 6, 4:40 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Calhoun, Talladega	35 min
Mar 6, 4:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Clay, Cleburne	53 min
Mar 6, 4:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	49 min
Mar 6, 4:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lauderdale, Limestone	62 min
Mar 6, 5:22 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison	68 min
Mar 6, 5:31 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Limestone	59 min
Mar 6, 6:23 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chattahoochee, Muscogee	52 min
Mar 6, 6:48 AM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Stewart	57 min
Mar 6, 12:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Muscogee	36 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.