Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Birmingham, AL

January 18, 1996Fayette County, Pickens County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 18, 1996, 12:52 PM CST for Fayette County, Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 38 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: Jan 18, 1996, 12:52 PM CST (18:52 UTC)
Expired: Jan 18, 1996, 1:30 PM CST
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Fayette County, AL, Pickens County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 790 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 393 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 482 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 
TTAA00 KBHM 181852 RRA
TORBHM
ALC057-107-181930-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1252 PM CST THU JAN 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  130 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...FAYETTE COUNTY...NORTHEASTERN PICKENS COUNTY
 
AT 1251 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATE A TORNADO
LIKELY WITH A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF PICKENS
COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE OUT OF
PICKENS COUNTY AND INTO SOUTHERN FAYETTE COUNTY THROUGH 1 PM.
 
THIS WARNING REPLACES THE PERVIOUS WARNINGS.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 18, 11:02 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale	58 min
Jan 18, 11:02 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	58 min
Jan 18, 11:34 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lamar, Marion	56 min
Jan 18, 11:49 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	41 min
Jan 18, 12:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lauderdale	56 min
Jan 18, 12:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	60 min
Jan 18, 12:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	50 min
Jan 18, 12:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	50 min
Jan 18, 12:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	59 min
Jan 18, 1:15 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	30 min
Jan 18, 1:24 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	51 min
Jan 18, 1:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	66 min
Jan 18, 1:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	66 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.