Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Mobile, AL

March 18, 1996Wilcox County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 18, 1996, 5:37 PM CST for Wilcox County, Alabama. It was in force for 38 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, 5:37 PM CST (23:37 UTC)
Expired: Mar 18, 1996, 6:15 PM CST
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Wilcox County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:39 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, 6:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Yellow Bluff, 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, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 141 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 KMOB 182337
TORMOB
ALC131-190015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
537 PM CST MON MAR 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH ALABAMA
 
   ...WILCOX COUNTY
 
MOBILE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWS THE STORM IN WILCOX COUNTY NOW HAS A
POSSIBLE TORNADO IN IT. THE STORM WAS JUST SOUTH OF PINE HILL AND SHOULD
PASS JUST NORTH OF CAMDEN. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
 
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 CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 18, 3:01 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile, Washington	44 min
Mar 18, 3:30 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	60 min
Mar 18, 4:15 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	60 min
Mar 18, 4:17 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	58 min
Mar 18, 4:25 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	65 min
Mar 18, 4:51 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	69 min
Mar 18, 4:57 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Washington	63 min
Mar 18, 5:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Wilcox	67 min
Mar 18, 5:35 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Choctaw	25 min
Mar 18, 5:47 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Monroe	58 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.