Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 328, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 9, 1997Talladega County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1997, 10:52 AM CDT for Talladega County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 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
May 9, 1997, 10:52 AM CDT (15:52 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1997, 11:40 AM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Talladega County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:55 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 nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 61 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 091552 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC121-091640-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1052 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1140 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...NORTHERN TALLADEGA COUNTY
 
AT 1050 AM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A BAND OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
MOVING ACROSS NOR:THERN SECTIONS OF TALLADEGA COUNTY.  THESE STORMS ARE
MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.  THESE STORMS WILL CROSS THE NORTHERN PORTION
OF THE COUNTY THROUGH 11:30 AM.  THIS ACTIVITY WILL MOVE ACROSS THE
CITY OF TALLADEGA AROUND 11:15.

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 9, 10:35 AM CDT, 17 minutes before
ALZ024-091610-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1035 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY HAS BEEN
CANCELLED AND IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.  NUMEROUS REPORTS OF MINOR
DAMAGE FROM STRONG WIND HAVE BEEN RECEIVED.

RAIN WILL CONTINUE IN JEFFERSON COUNTY FOR THE NEXT 30 MINUTES OR SO
BEFORE ENDING.

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, 9:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson46 min
May 9, 10:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXJefferson23 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.