Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 102, NWS Birmingham, AL

June 16, 1997Colbert County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jun 16, 1997, 1:08 PM CDT for Colbert County, Alabama. It was in force for 67 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 16, 1997, 1:08 PM CDT (18:08 UTC)
Expired: Jun 16, 1997, 2:15 PM CDT
In force: 67 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Colbert County, AL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jun 16, 1:08 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Leighton, AL	A tornado touched down near the intersection of Sockwell Lane and CR 22 and moved nearly due east causing damage to five houses in the area where it first touched down and to the high school near the end of the track. One person was injured when he fell down

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -97 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1067 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 189 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 217 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.

811 
WFUS1 KHSV 161808 RRA
TORHSV
ALC033-161915-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
108 PM CDT MON JUN 16 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  215 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH ALABAMA
 
   ...COLBERT COUNTY
 
AT 107 PM CDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER
EASTERN COLBERT COUNTY NEAR SPRING VALLEY.
 
MOVEMENT WAS EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 TO 30 MILES AN HOUR.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 16, 1:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence	62 min
Jun 16, 1:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Limestone	55 min
Jun 16, 2:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Franklin	58 min
Jun 16, 2:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lawrence	55 min
Jun 16, 3:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Morgan	57 min
Jun 16, 3:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marion	62 min
Jun 16, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Madison	62 min
Jun 16, 3:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	56 min
Jun 16, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone	63 min
Jun 16, 3:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Marshall	69 min
Jun 16, 4:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Morgan	59 min
Jun 16, 4:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Marshall	55 min
Jun 16, 4:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cleburne	65 min
Jun 16, 4:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Cullman, Walker	48 min
Jun 16, 4:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Talladega	47 min
Jun 16, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Blount, Jefferson	64 min
Jun 16, 5:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Jefferson	50 min
Jun 16, 5:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Clay	49 min
Jun 16, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair, Shelby	64 min
Jun 16, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Clay	33 min
Jun 16, 6:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	51 min
Jun 16, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Pickens	64 min
Jun 16, 6:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	49 min
Jun 16, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Clay	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.