Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 121, NWS Birmingham, AL

July 22, 1997Russell County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Jul 22, 1997, 3:41 PM CDT for Russell 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: Jul 22, 1997, 3:41 PM CDT (20:41 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 1997, 4:15 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

County Russell County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:40 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

Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 661 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 117 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.

403 
WFUS1 KBHM 222042 RRA
TORBHM
ALC113-222115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
341 PM CDT TUE JUL 22 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...RUSSELL COUNTY
 
AT 338 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE
WEST PART OF RUSSELL COUNTY APPROACHING THE UCHEE AREA.  RADAR
INDICATE THAT THE TORNADO IS LIKELY BEING PRODUCED BY THIS STORM.  THE
STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL AFFECT UCHEE THROUGH 355
PM.

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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Jul 22, 3:20 PM CDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
320 PM CDT TUE JUL 22 1997

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

0248 PM    OPELIKA                   AL   TORNADO
07/22/97   LEE                            STATE TROOPER OBSERVED
                                          POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
                                          AT SHOPPING CENTER/TWO
                                          CARS DAMAGED/ROOF AIR
                                          UNITS DISPLACED/TREES DOWN
                                          ON I-85

Local storm report, Jul 22, 3:22 PM CDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
320 PM CDT TUE JUL 22 1997

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

0248 PM    OPELIKA                   AL   TORNADO
07/22/97   LEE                            STATE TROOPER OBSERVED
                                          POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN
                                          AT SHOPPING CENTER/TWO
                                          CARS DAMAGED/ROOF AIR
                                          UNITS DISPLACED/TREES DOWN
                                          ON I-85

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 7:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale, Tuscaloosa	4 hr
Jul 21, 11:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Hale, Tuscaloosa	3 hr
Jul 22, 12:54 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Pickens	4 hr
Jul 22, 2:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lee	34 min
Jul 22, 2:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Chambers	29 min
Jul 22, 3:33 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Greene, Marengo	3 hr
Jul 22, 5:18 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	BMX	Bullock	2 hr

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.