Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 313, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 3, 1997, 5:37 AM CDT for Autauga County, Chilton County, Alabama. It was in force for 63 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
- May 3, 1997, 5:37 AM CDT (10:37 UTC)
- Expired
- May 3, 1997, 6:40 AM CDT
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Autauga County, AL, Chilton County, AL
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:38 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 6:30 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Prattville, AL | Several trees were blown down on a NWS employee's property. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 2:00 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 55 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
- 1924 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 894 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 170 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 279 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.0
- Supercell composite
- 11.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
156 WUUS1 KBHM 031037 RRA SVRBHM ALC001-021-031140- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 537 AM CDT SAT MAY 3 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 640 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...AUTAUGA ...CHILTON AT 535 AM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO WESTERN CHILTON AND WESTERN AUTAUGA COUNTIES. HIGH AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE. MOVEMENT IS TO THE EAST AT 50 MPH. REMEMBER... A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. LARGE HAIL... DAMAGING WINDS... AND TORRENTIAL RAINFALL MAY ALSO OCCUR. BE READY TO SEEK A PLACE OF SAFETY IF A WARNING IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.
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, May 3, 4:50 AM CDT, 47 minutes before
ALZ012-013-015>018-020-022>024-026-031055- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 450 AM CDT SAT MAY 3 1997 TORNADO WATCH 242 CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN NORTH ALABAMA... CULLMAN...BLOUNT...ETOWAH...CHEROKEE...ST CLAIR... JEFFERSON...WALKER...FAYETTE...LAMAR...PICKENS...TUSCALOOSA.
Special weather statement, May 3, 4:51 AM CDT, 46 minutes before
ALZ012-013-015>018-020-022>024-026-031055- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 450 AM CDT SAT MAY 3 1997 TORNADO WATCH 242 CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN NORTH ALABAMA... CULLMAN...BLOUNT...ETOWAH...CHEROKEE...ST CLAIR... JEFFERSON...WALKER...FAYETTE...LAMAR...PICKENS...TUSCALOOSA.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 7:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 50 min |
| May 2, 7:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 47 min |
| May 2, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison, Morgan | 55 min |
| May 2, 7:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 61 min |
| May 2, 7:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 63 min |
| May 2, 8:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 57 min |
| May 2, 8:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 49 min |
| May 2, 8:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 60 min |
| May 2, 8:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 33 min |
| May 2, 8:54 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar | 61 min |
| May 2, 9:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette | 78 min |
| May 2, 9:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 48 min |
| May 2, 9:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker | 64 min |
| May 2, 10:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lamar | 65 min |
| May 2, 10:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 32 min |
| May 2, 10:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 62 min |
| May 2, 10:41 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall | 4 hr |
| May 2, 10:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Fayette | 63 min |
| May 2, 11:06 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Walker | 50 min |
| May 2, 11:12 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cullman, Marion, Walker, Winston | 3 hr |
| May 2, 11:12 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar | 3 hr |
| May 2, 11:32 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 43 min |
| May 2, 11:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 49 min |
| May 2, 11:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 64 min |
| May 3, 12:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson | 59 min |
| May 3, 12:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 34 min |
| May 3, 12:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 65 min |
| May 3, 12:15 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Etowah | 45 min |
| May 3, 12:22 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cherokee | 48 min |
| May 3, 12:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 66 min |
| May 3, 1:42 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Cullman | 33 min |
| May 3, 1:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 50 min |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Fayette, Lamar, Marion, Walker | 4 hr |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Cullman, Winston | 4 hr |
| May 3, 1:57 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Blount | 4 hr |
| May 3, 2:32 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall | 3 hr |
| May 3, 3:27 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 48 min |
| May 3, 3:54 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Greene | 36 min |
| May 3, 3:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Hale | 31 min |
| May 3, 5:06 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 49 min |
| May 3, 6:11 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 49 min |
| May 3, 6:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 47 min |
| May 3, 6:33 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 47 min |
| May 3, 7:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 35 min |
| May 3, 7:58 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 47 min |
| May 3, 8:04 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Macon | 31 min |
| May 3, 8:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 30 min |
| May 3, 8:39 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 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.