Alert archive / Alabama / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 32, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 22, 1997Pickens County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this flash flood warning at Jul 22, 1997, 12:54 AM CDT for Pickens County, Alabama. It was in force for 4 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 22, 1997, 12:54 AM CDT (05:54 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 1997, 4:50 AM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Pickens County, AL

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 122 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: 810 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 487 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 38 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 220555
FFWBHM
ALC107-220950-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1254 AM CDT TUE JUL 22 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 450 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...PICKENS COUNTY
 
THE REMNANTS OF DANNY REMAIN CENTERED OVER WEST-CENTRAL ALABAMA AND
CONTINUE TO DUMP PERSISTANT HEAVY RAINS OVER THE AREA.  THE WESTERN
EDGE OF THE CONCENTRATED HEAVY RAINS HAS DRIFTED INTO EASTERN PICKENS
COUNTY EARLY THIS MORNING...WHERE RAIN WAS FALLING AT A RATE OF ABOUT
1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR.  UP TO 5 INCHES OF RAIN CAN BE EXPECTED TO
FALL OVER PARTS OF PICKENS COUNTY THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...
ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS
SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING. IT IS VERY DIFFICULT
AT NIGHT TO TELL HOW MUCH WATER IS ON ROADS. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT
DRIVE THROUGH WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY AND THE ROAD BENEATH MAY NOT BE INTACT. VEHICLES
CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY. IT ONLY TAKES
A FOOT OR TWO OF FLOWING WATER TO WASH MOST CARS AWAY. REMEMBER...
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 7:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale, Tuscaloosa	4 hr
Jul 21, 11:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale, Tuscaloosa	3 hr
Jul 22, 2:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lee	34 min
Jul 22, 2:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	29 min
Jul 22, 3:33 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Marengo	3 hr
Jul 22, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	34 min
Jul 22, 5:18 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Bullock	2 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.