Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 18, 1996Autauga County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 18, 1996, 5:54 PM CST for Autauga County, Alabama. It was in force for 66 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 18, 1996, 5:54 PM CST (23:54 UTC)
Expired: Mar 18, 1996, 7:00 PM CST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Autauga County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:55 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Mar 18, 6:02 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Prattville, 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, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 73 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: 1816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 85 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 182356
TORBHM
ALC001-190100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
554 PM CST MON MAR 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...AUTAUGA COUNTY
 
AT 550 PM CST A TORNADO WAS LOCATED JUST NORTH OF PRATTVILLE MOVING EAST
NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. TAKE COVER!
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS2 TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 18, 3:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lamar, Pickens	51 min
Mar 18, 4:11 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Fayette	64 min
Mar 18, 4:28 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lamar	32 min
Mar 18, 4:53 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Walker	52 min
Mar 18, 5:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marengo	43 min
Mar 18, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby	51 min
Mar 18, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	51 min
Mar 18, 5:09 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga, Lowndes	51 min
Mar 18, 5:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	64 min
Mar 18, 5:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Dallas	61 min
Mar 18, 5:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Autauga, Elmore	56 min
Mar 18, 5:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	56 min
Mar 18, 5:50 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Walker	40 min
Mar 18, 5:56 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Cullman	64 min
Mar 18, 5:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby	63 min
Mar 18, 5:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	61 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.