Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 528, NWS Birmingham, AL

November 21, 1997Barbour County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Nov 21, 1997, 7:26 PM CST for Barbour County, Alabama. It was in force for 34 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, 7:26 PM CST (01:26 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1997, 8:00 PM CST
In force: 34 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 01:30 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Nov 21, 2:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 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-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: 440 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 528 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 562 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 896 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

803 
WUUS1 KBHM 220128 RRA
SVRBHM
ALC005-220200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
726 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN ALABAMA

   ...BARBOUR COUNTY...

AT 724 PM CST... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
MOVING INTO BARBOUR COUNTY.  THIS STORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 5 MILES
NORTHWEST OF CLAYTON AND WAS MOVING EAST ABOUT 35 MPH.


<<CALL TO ACTION>>
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER...
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT FOR
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

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

Local storm report, Nov 21, 6:08 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
608 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM                              AL   WIND DAMAGE
11/21/97   LOWNDES                        TREE DOWN ON A CAR NO
                                          INJURIES

0545 PM    5 S SNOWDOUN              AL   .75 INCH HAIL
11/21/97   MONTGOMERY                     DIME SIZE HAIL 5 MILES
                                          SOUTH SNOWDOUN

Local storm report, Nov 21, 6:10 PM CST, 1 hour 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
608 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM                              AL   WIND DAMAGE
11/21/97   LOWNDES                        TREE DOWN ON A CAR NO
                                          INJURIES

0545 PM    5 S SNOWDOUN              AL   .75 INCH HAIL
11/21/97   MONTGOMERY         N            DIME SIZE HAIL 5 MILES
                                          SOUTH SNOWDOUN

Special weather statement, Nov 21, 7:00 PM CST, 26 minutes before

ALZ033-039>044-220200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
700 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

TORNADO WATCH 793 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN
CENTRAL ALABAMA...

MARENGO...PERRY...LOWNDES...AUTAUGA...MONTGOMERY...ELMORE...AND DALLAS.
THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED FOR THESE COUNTIES.

Special weather statement, Nov 21, 7:01 PM CST, 25 minutes before

ALZ033-039>044-220200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
700 PM CST FRI NOV 21 1997

TORNADO WATCH 793 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN
CENTRAL ALABAMA...
B
MARENGO...PERRY...LOWNDES...AUTAUGA...MONTGOMERY...ELMORE...AND DALLAS.
THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED FOR THESE COUNTIES.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 21, 6:36 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Barbour, Russell	49 min
Nov 21, 6:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	34 min
Nov 21, 7:06 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	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.