Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 336, NWS Birmingham, AL

May 24, 1997Tallapoosa County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1997, 8:16 PM CDT for Tallapoosa County, Alabama. It was in force for 29 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 24, 1997, 8:16 PM CDT (01:16 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1997, 8:45 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Tallapoosa County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 36 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:18 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 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 98 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 00:00Z on 1997-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1486 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1997-05-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 49 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1486 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
982 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

793 
WUUS1 KBHM 250118 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC123-250145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
816 PM CDT SAT MAY 24 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  845 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...TALLAPOOSA COUNTY
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY RADAR NEAR JACKSONS GAP AND WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH TOWARD HORSESHOE BEND NATIONAL MILITARY P
K 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 11:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXMarshall55 min
May 24, 11:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXDeKalb59 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.