Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 332, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 9, 1997Lee County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1997, 3:39 PM CDT for Lee County, Alabama. It was in force for 46 min. 2 reports 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, 3:39 PM CDT (20:39 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1997, 4:25 PM CDT
In force: 46 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 20:42 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 9, 4:00 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Auburn, AL	Dime size hail was reported near Beauregard, in the central part of the county.
May 9, 4:12 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Smiths Station, AL	Hail the size of half dollars was reported in Smiths Station, in the eastern part of the county.

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 9, 3:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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 092042 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC081-092125-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 425 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...LEE COUNTY
 
AT 337 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER
WESTERN LEE COUNTY NEAR ROXANA.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST
AT 30 MPH AND WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AUBURN AREA BY 400 PM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL... DEADLY LIGHTNING... AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR
YOUR PROTECTION MO8VE 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, 5 hours 4 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, 4 hours 26 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, 4 hours 25 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 8:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	58 min
May 9, 8:54 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Fayette	46 min
May 9, 9:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Tuscaloosa	60 min
May 9, 9:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Walker	48 min
May 9, 9:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	46 min
May 9, 10:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	23 min
May 9, 10:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	48 min
May 9, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	48 min
May 9, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	48 min
May 9, 4:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every 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.