Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 63, NWS Mobile, AL

March 25, 1996Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 25, 1996, 10:27 AM CST for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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
Mar 25, 1996, 10:27 AM CST (16:27 UTC)
Expired
Mar 25, 1996, 11:15 AM CST
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Baldwin County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:31 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

Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL (KVPS), launched 12:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 121 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1996-03-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 64 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Eglin AFB/Valpar, FL at 12:00Z on 1996-03-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 276 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
64 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-269 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
276 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
377 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 251627 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC003-251715-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1027 AM CST MON MAR 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1115 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...SOUTHERN BALDWIN COUNTY
 
MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN THE SOUTH
PART OF BALDWIN COUNTY JUST NORTHWEST OF FOLEY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH AND SHOULD MOVE THROUGH FOLEY BY 1040 AM. LARGE HAIL
AND GUSTY WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THIS STORM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRVONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN 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.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 25, 9:36 AM CST, 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 25, 9:36 AM CST, 51 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE UPDATE...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
930 AM MON MAR 25 1996

NOT A LOT OF TIME TO LOOK AT MUCH THIS MORNING EXCEPT 88D.  LATEST
SURFACE ANALYSIS AND PCGRIDDS MAP FILES SHOWS FRONT ACROSS LA AND MS.
MAP FILES ALSO SHOW GOOD MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ACROSS FA.    LATEST
SURFACE REPORTS SHOW BETWEEN 1 AND 3 INCHES OF RAIN ACROSS PARTS OF
FA SINCE MIDNIGHT.  88D STP SHOWS BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES.  STILL
SEEING RW/TSTMS MOVG ACROSS FA.  STORMS HAVE HAD A LOT OF LTG IN THEM
BUT REPORTS SHOW VERY LITTLE WIND WITH A LOT OF RAIN.  88D VWP SHOWS
WESTERLY WINDS UP TO 40K.  FRONT SHOULD CONTINUE SAGGING TO THE SE
BUT NOT SURE IT WILL EVER PUSH THROUGH FA.  SHOULD AT LEAST SEE A
BREAK IN THE RAIN EARLY THIS AFTERNOON IN SOUTHWEST AL AND IN THE MID
AFTN IN NORTHWEST FL.
GB

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.