Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 330, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 9, 1997Lee County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1997, 2:52 PM CDT for Lee 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, 2:52 PM CDT (19:52 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1997, 3:40 PM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Lee County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:55 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 117 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA at 12:00Z on 1997-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 28 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
910 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 091955 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC081-092040-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 340 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...LEE COUNTY
 
AT 250 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
OVER CENTRAL LEE COUNTY NEAR AUBURN.  THESE STORMS WERE MOVING
EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 20 TO 25 MPH.  OTHER STORMS WERE DEVELOPING ACROSS
LEE COUNTY.
 
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.

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, 4 hours 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.
Special weather statement, May 9, 11:13 AM CDT, 3 hours 39 minutes before
ALZ027-091650-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1113 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHERN TALLADEGA  COUNTY HAS
BEEN CANCELLED.  THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE SHIFTED EAST AND WEAKENED.
Special weather statement, May 9, 11:14 AM CDT, 3 hours 38 minutes before
ALZ027-091650-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1113 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHERN TALLADEGA  COUNTY HAS
BEEN CANCELLED.  THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE SHIFTED EAST AND WEAKENED.

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, 10:52 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXTalladega48 min
May 9, 2:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXCoosa48 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.