Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jan 24, 1997, 4:42 PM CST for Jefferson County, Alabama. It was in force for 48 min. 4 reports 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
- Jan 24, 1997, 4:42 PM CST (22:42 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 24, 1997, 5:30 PM CST
- In force
- 48 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 22:43 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 4:44 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Vestavia Hills, AL | |
| Jan 24, 4:53 PM CST | Hail 1.25 | Liberty Park, AL | |
| Jan 24, 4:55 PM CST | Hail 1.75 | Homewood, AL | |
| Jan 24, 5:15 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Leeds, AL |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 3:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 379 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -22 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 510 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 316 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 348 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
689 WFUS1 KBHM 242244 RRA TORBHM ALC073-242330- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 442 PM CST FRI JAN 24 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ALABAMA ...JEFFERSON COUNTY RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO BETWEEN VESTAVIA HILLS AND BESSEMER. THE STORM WILL MOVE EAST-NORTHEAST ALONG HIGHWAY 459 TO HOOVER AND MOUNTAIN BROOK BY 455 PM.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 24, 6:37 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Dallas | 38 min |
| Jan 24, 6:52 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Autauga, Lowndes | 53 min |
| Jan 24, 7:10 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Autauga | 35 min |
| Jan 24, 7:24 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Elmore, Montgomery | 51 min |
| Jan 24, 7:43 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 47 min |
| Jan 24, 8:00 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 60 min |
| Jan 24, 8:02 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Macon | 58 min |
| Jan 24, 8:15 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 30 min |
| Jan 24, 8:18 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Bullock | 57 min |
| Jan 24, 8:26 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Pike | 64 min |
| Jan 24, 8:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lee | 61 min |
| Jan 24, 8:35 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Chambers | 55 min |
| Jan 24, 8:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 49 min |
| Jan 24, 8:58 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Macon | 17 min |
| Jan 24, 9:01 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Barbour | 59 min |
| Jan 24, 9:04 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Russell | 56 min |
| Jan 24, 1:39 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 51 min |
| Jan 24, 1:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 59 min |
| Jan 24, 2:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 44 min |
| Jan 24, 2:11 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 64 min |
| Jan 24, 2:32 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 43 min |
| Jan 24, 2:42 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 33 min |
| Jan 24, 2:59 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 61 min |
| Jan 24, 3:18 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 42 min |
| Jan 24, 3:27 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Morgan | 63 min |
| Jan 24, 3:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale | 60 min |
| Jan 24, 3:42 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 63 min |
| Jan 24, 3:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 58 min |
| Jan 24, 3:49 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 41 min |
| Jan 24, 3:54 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 66 min |
| Jan 24, 3:57 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 33 min |
| Jan 24, 4:03 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 12 min |
| Jan 24, 4:05 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marshall | 55 min |
| Jan 24, 4:14 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 61 min |
| Jan 24, 4:18 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 42 min |
| Jan 24, 4:23 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 52 min |
| Jan 24, 4:27 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 48 min |
| Jan 24, 4:31 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 59 min |
| Jan 24, 4:38 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone, Morgan | 67 min |
| Jan 24, 4:48 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison, Marshall | 72 min |
| Jan 24, 4:54 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Shelby | 51 min |
| Jan 24, 5:04 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | DeKalb, Marshall | 56 min |
| Jan 24, 5:11 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Tuscaloosa | 49 min |
| Jan 24, 5:12 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Madison | 63 min |
| Jan 24, 5:16 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | St. Clair | 44 min |
| Jan 24, 5:26 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jackson | 64 min |
| Jan 24, 5:28 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 62 min |
| Jan 24, 5:32 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Morgan | 43 min |
| Jan 24, 5:34 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Jefferson | 41 min |
| Jan 24, 5:34 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Morgan | 41 min |
| Jan 24, 5:37 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Talladega | 38 min |
| Jan 24, 5:43 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Sumter | 32 min |
| Jan 24, 5:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 60 min |
| Jan 24, 5:45 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 60 min |
| Jan 24, 5:48 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 42 min |
| Jan 24, 5:52 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Calhoun | 53 min |
| Jan 24, 5:57 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 48 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Alabama, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.