Alert archive / Georgia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 334, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 9, 1997Chattahoochee County, Georgia

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1997, 5:17 PM EDT for Chattahoochee County, Georgia. It was in force for 53 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, 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1997, 6:10 PM EDT
In force
53 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Chattahoochee County, GA

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:17 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 9, 4:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 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 092120 RRA
SVRBHM
GAC053-092210-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 610 PM EDT (510 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA

   ...CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY
 
AT 517 PM EDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
CONTINUED TO MOVE OVER PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA.  THE LINE OF
STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS CHATTAHOOCHEE COUNTY AFFECTING MOST LOCATIONS.

HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN SMITHS IN LEE COUNTY ALABAMA
WITH THESE STORMS.
 
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 AREAJS 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, 11:35 AM EDT, 5 hours 42 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, 12:13 PM EDT, 5 hours 4 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, 12:14 PM EDT, 5 hours 3 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, 4:49 PM EDT, 28 minutes before
GAZ089-092125-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
349 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR MUSCOGEE COUNTY HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE WEAKENED AND MOVED EAST OF THE AREA.
Special weather statement, May 9, 4:52 PM EDT, 25 minutes before
GAZ089-092125-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
349 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1997

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR MUSCOGEE COUNTY HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE WEAKENED AND MOVED EAST OF THE AREA.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 4:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMuscogee50 min
May 9, 5:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMuscogee62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Georgia, 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.