Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 129, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 25, 1997, 12:22 PM CDT for Lawrence County, Limestone County, Morgan County, Alabama. It was in force for 68 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
- Oct 25, 1997, 12:22 PM CDT (17:22 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 25, 1997, 1:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 68 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Lawrence County, AL, Limestone County, AL, Morgan County, AL
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 8:30 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 159 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
- 1546 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 507 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 119 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 4.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 251722 RRA TORHSV ALC079-083-103-251830- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1222 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 130 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONSS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...EASTERN LAWRENCE COUNTY...SOUTHERN LIMESTONE COUNTY ...MORGAN COUNTY AT 1220 PM CDT...RADAR SHOWED THE LARGE SUPER CELL SEVERE THUNDERSTORM TO BE CENTERED 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DECATUR. IT CONTINUES TO SHOW A SOLID ROTATION AS IT MOVES TOWARDS THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANYTIME AND HAS HAD A HISTORY OF VERY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS AS IT MOVED OUT OF NORTHEASTERN MISSISSIPPI AND INTO NORTHWESTERN ALABAMA. IT SHOULD MOVE TO NEAR OAKVILLE BY 1230 PM AND TO NEAR HARTSELLE BY 1245 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 SHELTER 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 8:08 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | DeKalb | 52 min |
| Oct 25, 10:18 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 42 min |
| Oct 25, 10:18 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 47 min |
| Oct 25, 10:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Franklin | 61 min |
| Oct 25, 11:00 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Marion | 45 min |
| Oct 25, 11:10 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 45 min |
| Oct 25, 11:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence | 60 min |
| Oct 25, 11:48 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Winston | 47 min |
| Oct 25, 12:20 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Cullman | 65 min |
| Oct 25, 1:04 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Blount | 51 min |
| Oct 25, 1:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Madison, Marshall | 67 min |
| Oct 25, 1:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Montgomery | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 1:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pike | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Bullock, Macon | 52 min |
| Oct 25, 2:27 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Pike | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:34 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Russell | 46 min |
| Oct 25, 2:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 48 min |
| Oct 25, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Barbour | 50 min |
| Oct 25, 4:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Franklin | 69 min |
| Oct 25, 5:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence | 60 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.