Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 68, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Apr 20, 1996, 10:58 PM CDT for Cullman County, Alabama. It was in force for 47 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
- Apr 20, 1996, 10:58 PM CDT (03:58 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 20, 1996, 11:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cullman County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:02 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 11:02 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Good Hope, 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 00:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 106 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 210359 TORBHM ALC043-210445- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 1058 PM CDT SAT APR 20 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...CULLMAN COUNTY AT 1057 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOW THAT A TORNADO IS LIKELY WITH A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING ACROSS CULLMAN COUNTY IN THE CRANE HILL. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 45 TO 50 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE GOOD HOPE ...AND HANCEVILLE AREAS. THIS WARNING REPLACES THE PREVIOUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUN:D BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
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 52 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, 10:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker | 49 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.