Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 477, NWS Birmingham, AL

September 10, 1997Jefferson County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 10, 1997, 2:10 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 35 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: Sep 10, 1997, 2:10 PM CDT (19:10 UTC)
Expired: Sep 10, 1997, 2:45 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Jefferson County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:24 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 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 43 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: 1096 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 581 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

912 
WUUS1 KBHM 101911 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC073-101945-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
210 PM CDT WED SEP 10 1997


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 245 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...EASTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY

AT 208 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
PALMERDALE IN NORTHEAST JEFFERSON COUNTY.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO 25 MPH.



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 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, Sep 10, 9:42 AM CDT, 4 hours 28 minutes before

ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-110245-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
942 AM CDT WED SEP 10 1997

A COLD FRONT WAS ENTERING NORTHWEST ALABAMA THIS MORNING BUT MOST OF
THE PRECIPITATION WAS WELL OUT AHEAD OF IT. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPED ON A PRE-FRONTAL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE AND MOVED ACROSS
MUCH OF ALABAMA OVERNIGHT. SOME ADDITIONAL ISOLATED DEVELOPMENT OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR TODAY MAINLY SOUTH OF A COLUMBUS
GA TO MONTGOMERY LINE. THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE
BUT SOME GUSTY WINDS MAY BE ENCOUNTERED. ELSEWHERE...NO THUNDERSTORMS
ARE FORECAST.

STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL SHOULD REMAIN
ALERT FOR CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND MONITOR NOAA WEATHER
RADIO OR LOCAL TV AND RADIO FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS LATER TODAY.
FOR THE SOUTHERN ALABAMA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...SEE PRODUCT
BHMSPSMOB. FOR MORE WEATHER INFORMATION VISIT OUR INTERNET SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.ACESAG.AUBURN.EDU/DEPARTMENT/NWS/INDEX.HTML
ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 10, 3:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	37 min
Sep 10, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Coosa	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.