Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 273, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 28, 1997, 5:21 PM CDT for St. Clair County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 28, 1997, 5:21 PM CDT (22:21 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 1997, 6:10 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County St. Clair County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 5:56 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Ashville, AL | Three-quarter inch hail was covering the ground in Ashville and was reported between Steele and Ashville. |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.
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, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 74 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
803 WUUS1 KBHM 282223 RRA SVRBHM ALC115-282310- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 521 PM CDT MON APR 28 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 610 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...ST. CLAIR AT 520 PM CDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER NORTHERN SAINT CLAIR COUNTY AND WAS SLOWLY DRIFTING NORTH. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE DIME TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL.
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, 4:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 64 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, 5:40 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.