Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 64, NWS Mobile, AL

March 30, 1996Mobile County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 30, 1996, 12:46 AM CST for Mobile County, Alabama. It was in force for 29 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 30, 1996, 12:46 AM CST (06:46 UTC)
Expired: Mar 30, 1996, 1:15 AM CST
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Mobile County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:46 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 30, 12:55 AM CST	Hail 1	Theodore, 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

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 00:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 58 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -283 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 791 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS1 KMOB 300646 RRA
SVRMOB
ALC097-300715-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1246 AM CST SAT MAR 30 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...SOUTHERN MOBILE COUNTY
 
AT 1245 AM MOBILE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING INTO
THE SOUTHWEST PART OF THE COUNTY NEAR GRAND BAY AT I10. THE PRIMARY
THREAT FROM THIS STORM IS LARGE HAIL. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST
AT 30 MPH.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG 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 29, 8:01 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 29, 8:01 PM CST, 4 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...MESOSCALE UPDATE...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
800 PM FRI MAR 29 1996

LATEST KMOB 88D LOOP SHOWS STRONG THUNDERSTORMS BARELY SKIRTING THE
NW FL CST.  EXPECT THE A FEW STRONG TRWS TO MOVE OVER THE CSTL AREAS
OF OK CO BEFORE MOVING E.  MAX STRM VELS RUNNING FROM 40 TO 70 KTS IN
THE STRONGER STORMS.  WILL MONITOR FOR STRONG WINDS ALONG THE CST.
LOOKS LIKE NGM HANDLING INSTABILTY BETTER TONIGHT OVR THE GULF THOUGH
AT A SLIGHTLY LATER TIME.  CURRENT FCST LOOKS GOOD FOR NOW.  MAY HAVE
TO REISSUE NOWS AS TRWS ARE PROGGED TO REMAIN OVR THE GULF FOR MOST OF
EVENING.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 30, 1:28 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	32 min
Mar 30, 1:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	25 min
Mar 30, 2:27 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1996 Every 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.