Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 118, NWS Birmingham, AL

June 17, 1997St. Clair County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jun 17, 1997, 1:28 PM CDT for St. Clair County, Alabama. It was in force for 32 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 17, 1997, 1:28 PM CDT (18:28 UTC)
Expired: Jun 17, 1997, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County St. Clair County, AL

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:28 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
Jun 17, 1:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Pell City, AL	Large limbs and a few trees were down in Pell City and Moody, in the southern part of the county.

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
Jun 17, 1:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 74 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: 2751 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 508 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 5.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 171828 RRA
TORBHM
ALC115-171900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
128 PM CDT TUE JUN 17 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...ST. CLAIR COUNTY
 
AT 128 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES
WEST OF CROPWELL MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE...
CROPWELL                    AROUND 129 PM CDT
RIVERSIDE                   AROUND 135 PM CDT

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 SAFETY 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
Jun 16, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes	48 min
Jun 16, 7:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	32 min
Jun 16, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lowndes, Montgomery	50 min
Jun 16, 7:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	48 min
Jun 16, 8:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	46 min
Jun 16, 8:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore	33 min
Jun 16, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	35 min
Jun 17, 5:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Colbert, Lauderdale	66 min
Jun 17, 5:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Franklin	66 min
Jun 17, 12:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Jefferson	46 min
Jun 17, 12:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee, Russell	31 min
Jun 17, 1:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Chambers	51 min
Jun 17, 1:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	St. Clair	49 min
Jun 17, 1:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Talladega	47 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.