Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 67, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 20, 1996, 10:11 PM CDT for Walker County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 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
- Apr 20, 1996, 10:11 PM CDT (03:11 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 20, 1996, 11:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Walker County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:11 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 84 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
- 1416 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -57 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 837 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 270 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 358 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 12.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBHM 210312 TORBHM ALC127-210400- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1011 PM CDT SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...WALKER COUNTY AT 1010 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A TORNADO LIKELY WITH A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER EASTERN FAYETTE COUNTY. THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 35 TO 40 MPH. THE STORM WILL AFFECT THE COMMUNITIES OF CORONA...OAKMAN...PARRISH...ALRIDGE...JASPER...AND CORDOVA. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PbIECE 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 CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Apr 20, 9:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before
ALZ040>045-047-054-210245- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 905 PM CDT SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS CLEARED THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES FROM SEVERE STORM WATCH NUMBER 206: WILCOX...DALLAS...AUTAGA...LOWNDES...ELMORE...MONTGOMERY...MACON... AND LEE.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 7:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 53 min |
| Apr 20, 7:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 62 min |
| Apr 20, 7:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 61 min |
| Apr 20, 7:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 53 min |
| Apr 20, 7:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 46 min |
| Apr 20, 8:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 47 min |
| Apr 20, 8:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Pickens | 58 min |
| Apr 20, 9:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 59 min |
| Apr 20, 9:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar, Pickens | 57 min |
| Apr 20, 9:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette | 43 min |
| Apr 20, 10:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 58 min |
| Apr 20, 10:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 62 min |
| Apr 20, 10:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 30 min |
| Apr 20, 10:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 10:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 48 min |
| Apr 20, 10:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 66 min |
| Apr 20, 10:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 47 min |
| Apr 20, 11:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 68 min |
| Apr 20, 11:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 34 min |
| Apr 20, 11:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 40 min |
| Apr 20, 11:33 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 42 min |
| Apr 20, 11:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 53 min |
| Apr 20, 11:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 58 min |
| Apr 20, 11:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 48 min |
| Apr 21, 8:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Morgan | 64 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.