Alert archive / Alabama / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 55, NWS Birmingham, AL

March 13, 1997Elmore County, Macon County, Alabama

NWS Birmingham, AL issued this tornado warning at Mar 13, 1997, 5:55 PM CST for Elmore County, Macon County, Alabama. It was in force for 50 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 13, 1997, 5:55 PM CST (23:55 UTC)
Expired: Mar 13, 1997, 6:45 PM CST
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Birmingham, AL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Elmore County, AL, Macon County, AL

The radar

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 13 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:59 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 13, 5:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1001 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 243 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.

000 
TTAA00 KBHM 132356 RRA
TORBHM
ALC051-087-140045-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
555 PM CST THU MAR 13 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BIRMINGHAM HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ... EASTERN ELMORE COUNTY
 
IN EAST CENTRAL ALABAMA
 
   ...MACON COUNTY
 
AT 555 PM RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO ACROSS SOUTHERN ELMORE
AND NORTHWEST MACON COUNTY MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 30 TO 40 MPH.
TREE DAMAGE WAS REPORTED EARLIER ACROSS EASTERN PORTIONS OF MONTGOMERY C
N 
 
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
Mar 13, 1:57 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Montgomery	48 min
Mar 13, 2:39 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Macon	46 min
Mar 13, 2:42 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Macon, Montgomery	48 min
Mar 13, 2:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Elmore	49 min
Mar 13, 3:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Tallapoosa	52 min
Mar 13, 3:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Bullock, Macon	49 min
Mar 13, 3:21 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Russell	49 min
Mar 13, 3:41 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BMX	Lee	49 min
Mar 13, 3:49 PM CST	Tornado Warning	BMX	Russell	31 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.