Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 461, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 18, 1997Cleburne County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 18, 1997, 11:39 AM CDT for Cleburne County, Alabama. It was in force for 61 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: Aug 18, 1997, 11:39 AM CDT (16:39 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 1997, 12:40 PM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Cleburne County, AL

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:43 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, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 2384 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 678 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 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 181640 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC029-181740-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1139 AM CDT MON AUG 18 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1240 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...CLEBURNE COUNTY
 
AT 1137 AM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR JUST
EAST OF EDWARDSVILLE.  THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND
WILL AFFECT HELFIN...EDWARDSVILLE...FRUITHURST...AND NEW HOPEWELL.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL... DEADLY LIGHTNING... AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FORX
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, Aug 18, 10:15 AM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before

ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-190315-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1015 AM CDT MON AUG 18 1997

THE PRESENCE OF A WEAK FRONTAL SYSTEM ACROSS TENNESSEE COMBINED WITH
A PERSISTENT MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE STATE WILL GIVE
WAY TO SLIGHTLY BETTER CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS TODAY.

ONCE AGAIN...THE HOT AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES COMBINED WITH HIGH
HUMIDITY WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES BETWEEN 105 AND 110 THIS
AFTERNOON. THE AREAS WITH THE GREATEST THREAT OF EXCESSIVE HEAT
TODAY ARE CENTRAL AND SOUTH ALABAMA AS WELL AS WEST CENTRAL GEORGIA.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL
SHOULD NOT BE NECESSARY.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 3:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore, Montgomery	33 min
Aug 18, 3:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Macon	32 min
Aug 18, 4:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	48 min
Aug 18, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	45 min
Aug 18, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Shelby	49 min
Aug 18, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chilton	48 min
Aug 18, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Dallas	34 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.