Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 268, NWS Birmingham, AL

April 28, 1997Etowah County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 28, 1997, 4:46 PM CDT for Etowah County, Alabama. It was in force for 64 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 28, 1997, 4:46 PM CDT (21:46 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 1997, 5:50 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Etowah 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
Apr 28, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 263 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -100 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 504 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 77 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 152 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

565 
WUUS1 KBHM 282148 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC055-282250-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
446 PM CDT MON APR 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 550 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHERN ALABAMA

   ...ETOWAH
 
AT 445 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY WEATHER
RADAR 5 MILES SOUTH OF ATTALLA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
GADSDEN                     AROUND 455 PM CDT
GLENCOE                     AROUND 457 PM CDT
REECE CITY                  AROUND 459 PM CDT
HOKES BLUFF                 AROUND 509 PM CDT
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE... SEEK REFUGE FROM THE STORM IN A
STRONG BUILDING. BOATERS ON AREA LAKES SHOULD TAKE SHELTER.
DAMAGING WIND... LARGE HAIL... VERY HEAVY RAIN... AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING ARE ALL LIKELY. DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER TREES OR OTHER
ISOLATED TALL OBJECTS. THESE ATTRACT LIGHTNING. DO NOT DRIVE INTO
AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 1:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	30 min
Apr 28, 1:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	34 min
Apr 28, 2:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	60 min
Apr 28, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah, St. Clair	63 min
Apr 28, 3:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cherokee	62 min
Apr 28, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	49 min
Apr 28, 4:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marshall	56 min
Apr 28, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman, Winston	64 min
Apr 28, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	DeKalb	58 min
Apr 28, 5:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Limestone, Madison	62 min
Apr 28, 5:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	49 min
Apr 28, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount	65 min
Apr 28, 5:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	DeKalb	69 min
Apr 28, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	32 min
Apr 28, 6:15 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Etowah	2 hr
Apr 28, 6:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marshall	60 min
Apr 28, 6:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Etowah	48 min
Apr 28, 6:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marshall	59 min
Apr 28, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Calhoun	66 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.