Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 471, NWS Birmingham, AL

August 20, 1997Barbour County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 1997, 3:51 PM CDT for Barbour County, Alabama. It was in force for 69 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 20, 1997, 3:51 PM CDT (20:51 UTC)
Expired
Aug 20, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT
In force
69 min
Issued by
NWS Birmingham, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Barbour County, AL

The radar

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:53 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 187 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 1997-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1699 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-08-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 63 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
1699 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
743 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 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 202051 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC005-202200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
351 PM CDT WED AUG 20 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST ALABAMA
 
   ...BARBOUR COUNTY
 
AT 350 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR CLAYTON MOVING
EAST AT 25 MPH TOWARD EUFAULA. HAIL...HIGH WINDS...AND HEAVY RAIN IS
LIKELY.
 
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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 8:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLawrence69 min
Aug 20, 2:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMXLowndes, Montgomery45 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.