Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 124, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 7:53 AM CST for Jackson County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 21, 1997, 7:53 AM CST (13:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 21, 1997, 9:00 AM CST
- In force
- 67 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Jackson County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 7:00 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 160 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 133 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -19 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 825 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 52 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 392 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 598 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 2.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 211353 RRA SVRHSV ALC071-211500- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 753 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...JACKSON COUNTY AT 750 AM CST RADAR AT HUNTSVILLE SHOWED POSSIBLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST INTO JACKSON COUNTY FROM MADISON COUNTY AT NEAR 50 MILES AN HOUR. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR MADISON AND MORGAN COUNTIES UNTIL 815 AM CST. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDER>STORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Feb 21, 7:48 AM CST, 5 minutes before
ALZ004-005-013-014-211450- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 748 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997 THE TORNADO WATCH WHICH WAS EFFECTIVE UNTIL 12 NOON IS HEREBY CANCELLED. THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED ON EAST OF YOUR AREA.
Special weather statement, Feb 21, 7:53 AM CST, 0 minutes before
ALZ004-005-013-014-211450- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 753 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997 THE TORNADO WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR LIMESTONE...LAWRENCE... WINSTON...AND FAYETTE COUNTIES. ALL OTHER COUNTIES THAT WERE IN THE TORNADO PREVIOUSLY ARE STILL IN THE WATCH TILL NOON.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 5:08 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar, Pickens | 52 min |
| Feb 21, 5:51 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 69 min |
| Feb 21, 5:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pickens | 48 min |
| Feb 21, 6:00 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar | 60 min |
| Feb 21, 6:05 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 55 min |
| Feb 21, 6:11 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 64 min |
| Feb 21, 6:15 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 60 min |
| Feb 21, 6:18 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 57 min |
| Feb 21, 6:28 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 62 min |
| Feb 21, 6:32 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence | 58 min |
| Feb 21, 6:45 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 45 min |
| Feb 21, 6:56 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 64 min |
| Feb 21, 7:10 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 50 min |
| Feb 21, 7:21 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 54 min |
| Feb 21, 7:24 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Morgan | 51 min |
| Feb 21, 8:04 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 56 min |
| Feb 21, 8:21 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 54 min |
| Feb 21, 8:47 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 43 min |
| Feb 21, 9:00 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bibb | 45 min |
| Feb 21, 9:22 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga | 38 min |
| Feb 21, 9:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 46 min |
| Feb 21, 9:38 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 52 min |
| Feb 21, 9:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga | 33 min |
| Feb 21, 10:12 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa, Elmore | 48 min |
| Feb 21, 10:19 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 41 min |
| Feb 21, 10:31 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 44 min |
| Feb 21, 10:36 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 39 min |
| Feb 21, 10:45 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 45 min |
| Feb 21, 10:57 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 48 min |
| Feb 21, 11:01 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore | 29 min |
| Feb 21, 11:15 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers, Lee | 45 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997Every severe thunderstorm 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.