Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 126, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 21, 1997, 8:21 AM CST for Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 54 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, 8:21 AM CST (14:21 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 21, 1997, 9:15 AM CST
- In force
- 54 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Tuscaloosa 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, 4:45 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
| Feb 21, 7:00 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 70 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
- 116 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 589 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 64 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 475 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 530 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
510 WUUS1 KBHM 211422 RRA SVRBHM ALC125-211515- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 821 AM CST FRI FEB 21 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...TUSCALOOSA COUNTY AT 821 AM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM NORTHERN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY...SOUTHWESTWARD INTO NORTH NGREENE COUNTY. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH...AND WILL AFFECT THE FOSTERS AND TUSCALOOSA AREAS BY 850 AM. 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.
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, 33 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, 28 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.
Special weather statement, Feb 21, 7:54 AM CST, 27 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, 7:53 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 67 min |
| Feb 21, 8:04 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 56 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.