Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 486, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 25, 1997, 10:18 AM CDT for Franklin County, Alabama. It was in force for 42 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
- Oct 25, 1997, 10:18 AM CDT (15:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 25, 1997, 11:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 42 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Franklin County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 8:30 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 171 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
- 1546 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 507 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 119 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 4.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 251521 RRA SVRHSV ALC059-251600- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1018 AM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...FRANKLIN COUNTY AT 1015 AM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN HUNTSVILLE INDICATED A POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN ITAWAMBA COUNTY IN MISSISSIPPI. THIS STORM WILL M EWESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY BY 1020 AM CDT. THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 35 TO 40 MILES PER HOUR. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 8:08 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 52 min |
| Oct 25, 10:18 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 47 min |
| Oct 25, 10:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 61 min |
| Oct 25, 11:00 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 45 min |
| Oct 25, 11:10 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 45 min |
| Oct 25, 11:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 60 min |
| Oct 25, 11:48 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 47 min |
| Oct 25, 12:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 65 min |
| Oct 25, 12:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan | 68 min |
| Oct 25, 1:04 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 51 min |
| Oct 25, 1:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison, Marshall | 67 min |
| Oct 25, 1:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 1:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pike | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bullock, Macon | 52 min |
| Oct 25, 2:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pike | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 min |
| Oct 25, 2:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Barbour | 50 min |
| Oct 25, 4:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Franklin | 69 min |
| Oct 25, 5:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence | 60 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.