Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 326, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 9, 1997Jefferson County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1997, 9:29 AM CDT for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 46 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 9, 1997, 9:29 AM CDT (14:29 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1997, 10:15 AM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:33 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 9, 10:00 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 60Birmingham, ALSeveral trees were blown down and windows were blown out at the Bell South building downtown.

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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 43 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 846 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1997-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 26 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
846 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
596 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 091429 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC073-091515-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
929 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AT 928 AM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A BAND OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDING ACROSS WESTERN JEEFERSON COUNTY. THE STORMS WERE MOVING
EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL MOVE ACROSS GRAYSVILLE...ADAMSVILLE
AND THE BIRMINGHAM METRO AREA BY 10 AM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 60 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 DONT
DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 8:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXPickens58 min
May 9, 8:54 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXFayette46 min
May 9, 9:00 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTuscaloosa60 min
May 9, 9:07 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXWalker48 min
May 9, 10:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson23 min
May 9, 10:52 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega48 min
May 9, 2:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCoosa48 min
May 9, 2:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee48 min
May 9, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLee46 min
May 9, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXRussell62 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.