Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 519, NWS Birmingham, AL

November 21, 1997Greene County, Sumter County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Nov 21, 1997, 11:01 AM CST for Greene County, Sumter County, Alabama. It was in force for 49 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: Nov 21, 1997, 11:01 AM CST (17:01 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 11:50 AM CST
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Greene County, AL, Sumter County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:04 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, 5.0 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 293 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 335 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 211707
SVRBHM
ALC063-119-211750-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTED WORDING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1101 AM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1150 AM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...GREENE COUNTY...
   ...SUMTER COUNTY...

AT 1100 AM CST... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
NEAR THE ALABAMA...MISSISSIPPI BORDER MOVING OVER SUMTER COUNTY.  THE
STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 TO 45 MPH.  THE STORMS WILL AFFECT MOST
LOCATIONS ACROSS SUMTER AND GREENE COUNTIES.

<<CALL TO ACTION>>
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, Nov 21, 10:40 AM CST, 21 minutes before

ALZ001>050-GAZ089-090-102-120-212300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
FOR NORTH/CENTRAL AL AND WEST CENTRAL GA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1036 AM CST THU NOV 20 1997

THUNDERSTORMS ARE SPREADING INTO ALABAMA AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT.
A FEW THUNDERSTORMS IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF ALABAMA COULD BECOME
SEVERE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND POSSIBLE
TORNADOES.

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL
IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF ALABAMA AND WEST-CENTRAL GEORGIA MAY BE
NECESSARY.

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
Nov 21, 5:05 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	35 min
Nov 21, 5:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	31 min
Nov 21, 5:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pike	31 min
Nov 21, 5:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock, Macon	46 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.