Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 29, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 21, 1997Greene County, Hale County, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jul 21, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT for Greene County, Hale County, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 21, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 21, 1997, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Greene County, AL, Hale County, AL, Tuscaloosa County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:46 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 89 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: 311 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 36 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 KBHM 212246
FFWBHM
ALC063-065-125-220045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
545 PM CDT MON JUL 21 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...GREENE COUNTY
   ...HALE COUNTY
   ...TUSCALOOSA COUNTY
 
AT 544 PM CDT...WEATHER RADARS CONTINUE TO SHOW A LARGE AREA OF
RAIN...MIXED WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...MOVING ACROSS PARTS OF
TUSCALOOSA...HALE AND GREENE COUNTIES.  RADAR RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF
TWO INCHES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED DURING THE PAST THREE HOURS.
ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF TWO TO THREE INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED
DURING THE NEXT TWO HOURS ACROSS PARTS OF NORTH GREENE AND HALE
COUNTIES AND WESTERN HALF OF TUSCALOOSA COUNTIES.

STREET FLOODING HAS BEEN REPORTED IN THE TUSCALOOSA AREA.
 
DURING HEAVY RAINS... KEEP CHILDREN AWAY FROM STORM DRAI.NS...
WATER CATCHMENTS... AND WATERWAYS. SHALLOW... GENTLY FLOWING WATER
CAN BECOME A RAGING TORRENT IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 9:34 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Marengo, Sumter	6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every flash flood warning in 1997

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.