Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 83, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 15, 1996Cherokee County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 15, 1996, 1:12 PM CST for Cherokee County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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 15, 1996, 1:12 PM CST (19:12 UTC)
Expired
Mar 15, 1996, 2:00 PM CST
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Cherokee County, AL

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 15, 2:10 PM CSTHail 1.75Blanche, 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 136 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1996-03-15Temperature 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1996-03-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 153 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
993 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
155 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 
WUUS1 KBHM 151913 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC019-152000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
112 PM CST FRI MAR 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  200 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...CHEROKEE COUNTY
 
AT 110 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR CEDAR BLUFF MOVING
EAST AT 30 TO 40 MPH. OTHER STRONG STORMS WERE OVER WESTERN CHEROKEE
COUNTY MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
 
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

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 15, 12:16 PM CST, 56 minutes before
ALZ011>015-152120-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1216 PM CST FRI MAR 15 1996

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES OF NORTHWEST ALABAMA....

...MARION...WINSTON...WALKER...LAMAR...AND FAYETTE...

AT 1215PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED DECREASED SHOWER AND
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS MOST OF NORTHWEST ALABAMA. A CHANCE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON BUT SEVERE
WEATHER IS NO LONGER EXPECTED OVER THESE COUNTIES.

THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES REMAIN IN THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH...
...BLOUNT...CULLMAN...ETOWAH...AND CHEROKEE. SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS REMAINED FROM CULLMAN EAST TO
GADSDEN. THE RAIN WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 TO 30 MPH. NO STORMS WERE SEVERE
AT THIS TIME AND THESE COUNTIES MAY BE CLEARED FROM THE WATCH DURING
THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 15, 9:20 AM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLimestone, Madison55 min
Mar 15, 12:21 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDeKalb69 min
Mar 15, 12:33 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLimestone57 min
Mar 15, 12:48 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMadison57 min
Mar 15, 1:45 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarshall60 min
Mar 15, 1:56 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDeKalb64 min
Mar 15, 2:03 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCherokee57 min
Mar 15, 2:52 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLauderdale68 min
Mar 15, 3:25 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXSt. Clair35 min
Mar 15, 3:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega60 min
Mar 15, 4:03 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXClay42 min
Mar 15, 4:27 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRandolph48 min
Mar 15, 5:50 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLimestone55 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.