Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 89, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 15, 1996, 3:30 PM CST for Talladega County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 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, 3:30 PM CST (21:30 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 15, 1996, 4:30 PM CST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Talladega County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:32 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 | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 3:45 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Lincoln, 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, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 61 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 TTAA00 KBHM 152130 RRA SVRBHM ALC121-152230- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 330 PM CST FRI MAR 15 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...TALLADEGA COUNTY AT 326 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHERN ST CLAIR COUNTY MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR THE CITY OF TALLADEGA BY 400 PM. WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DON'T USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS INH 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, Mar 15, 12:16 PM CST, 3 hours 14 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, 1:56 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 64 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.