Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Mobile, AL

February 19, 1996Washington County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this tornado warning at Feb 19, 1996, 3:03 PM CST for Washington County, Alabama. It was in force for 57 min. 3 reports 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: Feb 19, 1996, 3:03 PM CST (21:03 UTC)
Expired: Feb 19, 1996, 4:00 PM CST
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Mobile, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Washington County, AL

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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
Feb 19, 3:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Hawthorn, AL
Feb 19, 3:30 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Millry, AL
Feb 19, 4:00 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Chatom, 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 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 192 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: 24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 748 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 218 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 259 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 192104
TORMOB
ALC129-192200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
303 PM CST MON FEB 19 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
 
   ...WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 3 PM NWS DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 4 MILES NORTHWEST
OF DEER PARK IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THE PROJECTED MOVEMENT WILL TAKE IT TOWARD SEABOARD
AND WAGERVILLE BY 345 PM.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 19, 2:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Choctaw	41 min
Feb 19, 2:51 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	69 min
Feb 19, 3:46 PM CST	Tornado Warning	MOB	Clarke	59 min
Feb 19, 3:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Washington	55 min
Feb 19, 4:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Monroe	37 min
Feb 19, 4:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Mobile	63 min
Feb 19, 4:43 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Baldwin	47 min
Feb 19, 5:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MOB	Escambia	46 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.