Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 85, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 15, 1996, 1:56 PM CST for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 64 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
- Mar 15, 1996, 1:56 PM CST (19:56 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 15, 1996, 3:00 PM CST
- In force
- 64 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County DeKalb County, AL
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 168 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
- 80 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -53 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 689 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 187 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 155 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WUUS1 KHSV 151956 RRA SVRHSV ALC049-152100- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 156 PM CST FRI MAR 15 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...DEKALB COUNTY AT 157 PM CST WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN HUNTSVILLE INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN NORTHEAST MARSHALL COUNTY AND WILL MOVE INTO DE KALD COUNTY NEAR GROVE OAK BY 205 PM CST. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 40 MILES PER HOUR. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER... PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
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, 1 hour 40 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 9:20 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone, Madison | 55 min |
| Mar 15, 12:21 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 69 min |
| Mar 15, 12:33 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 57 min |
| Mar 15, 12:48 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 57 min |
| Mar 15, 1:12 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 48 min |
| Mar 15, 1:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 60 min |
| Mar 15, 2:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 57 min |
| Mar 15, 2:52 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 68 min |
| Mar 15, 3:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 35 min |
| Mar 15, 3:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 60 min |
| Mar 15, 4:03 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 42 min |
| Mar 15, 4:27 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 48 min |
| Mar 15, 5:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 55 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.