Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 244, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 22, 1997, 3:39 PM CDT for Clay County, Alabama. It was in force for 46 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
- Apr 22, 1997, 3:39 PM CDT (20:39 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 22, 1997, 4:25 PM CDT
- In force
- 46 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Clay County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:41 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 86 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
- 1576 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -52 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 667 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 117 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 216 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 6.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
483 WUUS1 KBHM 222041 RRA SVRBHM ALC027-222125- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 339 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 425 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...CLAY AT 338 CDT PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NEAR THE TALLADEGA/CLAY COUNTY LINE. THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH AFFECTING MOST LOCATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTY. DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. 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 FOR 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, Apr 22, 3:27 PM CDT, 12 minutes before
ALZ001>004-011>015-022-023-030>032-039-222130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 327 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE TORNADO WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST ALABAMA... LAUDERDALE..COLBERT..FRANKLIN...LAWRENCE..MARION..WINSTON.. LAMAR..FAYETTE..WALKER..PICKENS..TUSCALOOSA..GREENE..HALE.. SUMTER..MARENGO.
Special weather statement, Apr 22, 3:28 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
ALZ001>004-011>015-022-023-030>032-039-222130- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 327 PM CDT TUE APR 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE TORNADO WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN WEST ALABAMA... LAUDERDALE..COLBERT..FRANKLIN...LAWRENCE..MARION..WINSTON.. LAMAR..FAYETTE..WALKER..PICKENS..TUSCALOOSA..GREENE..HALE.. SUMTER..MARENGO.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 21, 7:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 56 min |
| Apr 21, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 55 min |
| Apr 21, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 55 min |
| Apr 21, 7:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 43 min |
| Apr 21, 10:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 67 min |
| Apr 21, 11:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cleburne | 43 min |
| Apr 22, 1:03 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 1:12 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 1:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Clay | 57 min |
| Apr 22, 1:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 66 min |
| Apr 22, 2:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 2:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert | 62 min |
| Apr 22, 2:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount, Jefferson, Walker | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 2:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 2:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Shelby | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bibb | 35 min |
| Apr 22, 2:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Dallas, Lowndes | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 2:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 35 min |
| Apr 22, 3:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chilton | 47 min |
| Apr 22, 3:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 46 min |
| Apr 22, 3:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 47 min |
| Apr 22, 3:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 45 min |
| Apr 22, 3:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 3:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Lowndes | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 3:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 30 min |
| Apr 22, 4:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers, Randolph | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 4:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 50 min |
| Apr 22, 4:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bullock, Macon | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 4:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 4:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marengo | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 5:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 48 min |
| Apr 22, 5:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 min |
| Apr 22, 6:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 6:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Dallas | 43 min |
| Apr 22, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lowndes | 49 min |
| Apr 22, 6:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Elmore, Montgomery | 52 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.