Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 133, NWS Birmingham, AL

October 25, 1997Bullock County, Macon County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Oct 25, 1997, 2:13 PM CDT for Bullock County, Macon County, Alabama. It was in force for 52 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, 2:13 PM CDT (19:13 UTC)
Expired: Oct 25, 1997, 3:05 PM CDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Bullock County, AL, Macon 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, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 251915 RRA
TORBHM
ALC011-087-252005-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
213 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM AL HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 305 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA

   ...BULLOCK COUNTY...
   ...MACON COUNTY...

AT 213 PM CDT... WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO NEAR UNION SPRINGS.
THIS TORNADO WAS MOVINGT NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.


<<CALL TO ACTION>>
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE... SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT... SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT... DITCH OR
LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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, Oct 25, 12:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
1250 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

1240 PM    JONES CHAPEL              AL   .75 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        DIME SIZE HAIL IN JONES
                                          CHAPEL

1249 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   1.75 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        GOLF-BALL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          WEST POINT TO THE
                                          NORTHWEST OF CITY OF
                                          CULLMAN

Local storm report, Oct 25, 12:52 PM CDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
1250 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

1240 PM    JONES CHAPEL              AL   .75 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        DIME SIZE HAIL IN JONES
                                          CHAPEL

1249 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   1.75 INCH HAIL
10/258/97   CULLMAN                        GOLF-BALL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          WEST POINT TO THE
                                          NORTHWEST OF CITY OF
                                          CULLMAN

Local storm report, Oct 25, 1:06 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
106 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

1254 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   .88 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        NICKEL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          JUNCTION OF HWY. 157 AND
                                          I-65

0105 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   2.75 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        BASEBALL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          CULLMAN

Local storm report, Oct 25, 1:07 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
106 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

1254 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   .88 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        NICKEL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          JUNCTION OF HWY. 157 AND
                                          I-65

0105 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   2.75 INCH HAIL
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        BASEBALL SIZE HAIL AT
                                          CULLMAN

Local storm report, Oct 25, 1:25 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
125 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

0115 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   WIND DAMAGE
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN
                                          ON HOMES AND VEHICLES IN
                                          CULLMAN...ALSO SHED ROOFS
                                          BLOWN OFF

Local storm report, Oct 25, 1:27 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM
125 PM CDT SAT OCT 25 1997

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

0115 PM    CULLMAN                   AL   WIND DAMAGE
10/25/97   CULLMAN                        NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN
                                          ON HOMES AND VEHICLES IN
                                          CULLMAN...ALSO SHED ROOFS
                                          BLOWN OFF

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, 12:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BMX	Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan	68 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, 2:27 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, 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.