Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 40, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Feb 28, 1997, 8:53 AM CST for Clay County, Alabama. It was in force for 37 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
- Feb 28, 1997, 8:53 AM CST (14:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 28, 1997, 9:30 AM CST
- In force
- 37 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Clay County, AL
The radar
The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:53 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 86 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
- 133 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -43 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 508 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 55 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 286 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 334 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
351 WFUS1 KBHM 281455 RRA TORBHM ALC027-281530- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL 853 AM CST FRI FEB 28 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA ...CLAY COUNTY THE TORNADO WARNING FOR CLAY COUNTY HAS BEEN EXTENDED. AT 853 A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POSSIBLY PRODUCING A TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR ASHLAND. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL CONTINUE ACROSS CLAY COUNTY ...EAST OF ASHLAND DURING THE NEXT 30 MINUTES. DAMAGING WINDS...AND SMALTORNADOS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 28, 7:51 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Talladega | 54 min |
| Feb 28, 8:14 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Clay | 46 min |
| Feb 28, 8:19 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Bibb | 3 hr |
| Feb 28, 8:32 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 43 min |
| Feb 28, 8:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa | 34 min |
| Feb 28, 9:09 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Tallapoosa | 36 min |
| Feb 28, 9:13 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Clay, Cleburne, Randolph | 3 hr |
| Feb 28, 9:13 AM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Calhoun, Cherokee, Etowah | 3 hr |
| Feb 28, 9:13 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Randolph | 47 min |
| Feb 28, 9:28 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Chambers | 47 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.