Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 400, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 4, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT for Colbert County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 min. 4 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
- Jul 4, 1997, 3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 4, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 68 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Colbert County, AL
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 3:40 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Cherokee, AL | |
| Jul 4, 4:15 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Sheffield, AL | |
| Jul 4, 4:16 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | Muscle Shoals, AL | |
| Jul 4, 4:20 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | Leighton, AL |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 2:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 193 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 38 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -403 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 932 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 60 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -74 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 37 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 042035 RRA SVRHSV ALC033-042145- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 337 PM CDT FRI JUL 4 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...COLBERT COUNTY AT 333PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM LIKELY PRODUCING LARGE HAIL NEAR CHEROKEE IN COLBERT COUNTY. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR LAUDERDALE COUNTY UNTIL 345 PM. THE LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AROUND 15 MILES AND HOUR WHILE INDIVIDUAL STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 25 TO 30 MILES AN HOUR. WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DON'T 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 2:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale | 67 min |
| Jul 4, 3:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lauderdale, Limestone | 58 min |
| Jul 4, 4:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison | 64 min |
| Jul 4, 4:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 65 min |
| Jul 4, 4:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 57 min |
| Jul 4, 4:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jackson | 57 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.