Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 174, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 5, 1997DeKalb County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 5, 1997, 3:07 PM CST for DeKalb County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 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: Mar 5, 1997, 3:07 PM CST (21:07 UTC)
Expired: Mar 5, 1997, 4:15 PM CST
In force: 68 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County DeKalb 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
Mar 5, 3:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 168 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: 26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -139 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 616 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 118 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 178 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 KHSV 052107 RRA
SVRHSV
ALC049-052215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
307 PM CST WED MAR 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  415 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...DEKALB COUNTY
 
AT 303 PM CST WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN HUNTSVILLE INDICATED A LINE OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM ASBURY TO BOAZ IN MARSHALL COUNTY. THIS LINE
WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN DEKALB COUNTY BY 310 PM CST. OTHER INTENSE
THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURING ALONG THE JACKSON DEKALB COUNTY LINE NEAR
DUTTON.
 
THE LINE WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
 
THIS LINE HAS HAD A HISTORY OF PRODUCING WIND DAMAGE.
 
 
 
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.
 
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

Local storm report, Mar 5, 1:54 PM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA
154 PM CST WED MAR 05 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0125 PM    HALEYVILLE                AL   WIND DAMAGE
03/05/97   WINSTON                        STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO A
                                          HOUSE IN HALEYVILLE.

Special weather statement, Mar 5, 2:55 PM CST, 12 minutes before

ALZ011>014-016-052130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
255 PM CST WED MAR 5 1997

THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE NO LONGER IN THE TORNADO WATCH 94...

MARION...WINSTON...CULLMAN...LAMAR...AND FAYETTE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 5, 11:58 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale	62 min
Mar 5, 12:19 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	56 min
Mar 5, 12:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	64 min
Mar 5, 1:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Winston	50 min
Mar 5, 1:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone	67 min
Mar 5, 1:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Madison, Morgan	55 min
Mar 5, 1:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman	64 min
Mar 5, 1:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	41 min
Mar 5, 2:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	47 min
Mar 5, 2:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jackson, Marshall	55 min
Mar 5, 2:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every 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.