Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 44, NWS Birmingham, AL
NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 3, 1997, 12:45 AM CST for Franklin County, Alabama. It was in force for 60 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
- Mar 3, 1997, 12:45 AM CST (06:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 3, 1997, 1:45 AM CST
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Birmingham, AL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Franklin 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2, 11:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 00:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 171 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
- 18 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -90 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 588 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 70 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 323 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 420 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KHSV 030644 RRA TORHSV ALC033-059-077-079-030745- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1245 AM CST MON MAR 3 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HUNTSVILLE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 145 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONSS... IN NORTH ALABAMA ...COLBERT COUNTY...FRANKLIN COUNTY...LAUDERDALE COUNTY ...LAWRENCE COUNTY AT 1240 AM CST WEATHER SERVICE RADAR IN HUNTSVILLE INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLY CONTAINING TORNADOS NEAR ROCKWOOD AND ISBELL IN FRANKLIN COUNTY...SOUTHWEST OF COLBERT HEIGHTS AND WEST OF TUSCUMBIA...AND NEAR KILLEN AND GREENHILL IN EASTERN LAUDERDALE COUNTY. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MILES AN HOUR...AND WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN LAWRENCE COUNTY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR RzOOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Birmingham, AL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2, 7:29 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence | 3 hr |
| Mar 2, 7:29 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | BMX | Lauderdale, Limestone | 3 hr |
| Mar 2, 11:15 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale | 45 min |
| Mar 2, 11:35 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 40 min |
| Mar 2, 11:38 PM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale | 67 min |
| Mar 2, 11:55 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lamar | 50 min |
| Mar 3, 12:05 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 55 min |
| Mar 3, 12:29 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Fayette | 61 min |
| Mar 3, 12:45 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence | 60 min |
| Mar 3, 12:46 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Winston | 59 min |
| Mar 3, 12:57 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marion | 18 min |
| Mar 3, 1:02 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Walker | 58 min |
| Mar 3, 1:21 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Limestone | 69 min |
| Mar 3, 1:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Lawrence, Morgan | 64 min |
| Mar 3, 2:03 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Limestone | 57 min |
| Mar 3, 2:11 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Madison, Morgan | 64 min |
| Mar 3, 2:41 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Marshall | 64 min |
| Mar 3, 2:46 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Blount | 44 min |
| Mar 3, 2:59 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Etowah | 46 min |
| Mar 3, 3:50 AM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX | Coosa, Elmore | 40 min |
| Mar 3, 4:10 AM CST | Tornado Warning | BMX | Coosa, Tallapoosa | 65 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.