Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 87, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 15, 1996Lauderdale County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 15, 1996, 2:52 PM CST for Lauderdale County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 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, 2:52 PM CST (20:52 UTC)
Expired
Mar 15, 1996, 4:00 PM CST
In force
68 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Lauderdale County, AL

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:55 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

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 167 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1996-03-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 613 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1996-03-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 239 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
613 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
241 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS1 KHSV 152051 RRA
SVRHSV
ALC077-152200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
252 PM CST FRI MAR 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...LAUDERDALE COUNTY
 
AT 247 PM CST RADAR AT THE WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HUNTSVILLE
INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN LAUDERDALE COUNTY NORTHWEST OF CENTER
STAR.
 
THIS THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT AROUND 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, 2 hours 36 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, 1:12 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCherokee48 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, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.